Everybody's Got A Fire To Burn
by Eldri
Summary: Jack is dead and Pandora is finally free again. Nova survived it all, but what now? What will happen next? What will become of Pandora, of Sanctuary, of the Vaults all across the galaxy? Sequel to "What You're Runnin' From"
1. Prologue

_Song: The Last Internationale - Modern Man_

"Saul? What are you doing here?" I asked. He was currently holding a gun in my face and the doors of the shuttle behind us were closing. I held up my hands and was hoping to God, neither Gaige, Axton nor Mordecai would do anything stupid. What the fuck was going on?

"I... I just needed to see it's actually you. I hadn't really heard from you in ages and I just wasn't sure... but I guess it really is you." Saul mumbled, the gun still pointing at me. I nodded and slowly removed the scarf that was covering most of my face, still praying no one would do anything stupid.

"It's me, Saul, don't you worry. If we can get onto that cargo ship safely, we'll be even and we can go about our business without ever mentioning this encounter ever again, okay?" I told him, glancing over at Mordecai who didn't look happy about the situation. I mean, who would be happy about it?

"It... it really is you. How many years has it been? 15? 20?" he asked and slowly lowered the gun. I lowered my arms and took a deep breath.

"Dude, don't do that. I was getting panicked you'd kill us all on a whim. And it must be more like 22 or 23 years or something." I replied as I sat down, so the shuttle could take off.

I really didn't wanna spend a lot of time in the same shuttle as Saul Henderson. Yeah, I knew him and he was doing me a favour, but he was still the CEO of Hyperion and probably massively opposed to the Crimson Raiders. Plus, he'd always been a bit of an asshole, even though I used to hang around him.

"Yeah, probably. I mean... you look different. What happened to your hair? You always used to straighten it and have it all neat and tidy..." he said, as we all got ready for takeoff. I shot him a death glare. What the hell was his problem with my hair? Yeah, it wasn't neat and tidy anymore, but maybe I preferred it this way? At least it wasn't a massive pain in my ass anymore.

"I like it better this way. Besides, it's very tidy, I take care of my hair, even out here." I answered. He gave me a somewhat bewildered look and then just shrugged with the most fake smile I had ever seen.

"Guess, it's more practical in a place like Pandora. You must be glad to be able to get away from this place." he replied.

"I don't know. I've come to appreciate it, you know? Things change, I guess." I told him. I don't really know what I expected, but I just started to realize how different Saul and I had become over the years.

"I see, I see. Who are your friends with you?" he asked next. I looked over at Mordecai, Gaige and Axton. I couldn't possibly tell him anything. They all still had massive bounties on their heads and I had no idea how much I could really trust him. I started feeling for one of the knives I had on me.

"I don't think you need to know." I answered, my hand on my knife. Things had suddenly gotten pretty tense in the small shuttle. I just hoped things wouldn't go even worse. We had to be close to the cargo ship at this stage. We simply had to.

"Alright. It's probably better that way. We're almost there, anyway." Saul said with a smile. I smiled back at him and let go of the knife at my side.

"You know, it kinda sounded like you guys were great friends when you told me about him..." Gaige commented quietly from the side.

"We were, a long time ago." Saul replied instead of me.

"That's true. And Saul still owed me. But now we're even." I agreed. I really hoped that that meant we would be able to be on speaking terms with Hyperion and sort our stuff out without getting into a full blown war.


	2. Chapter 1 or ECHO Casting

_Song: Oingo Boingo - Stay_

I was looking down at Pandora from the cargo ship. We were bound to leave soon and it was breaking my heart to see the planet from orbit and know we'd be many light years away from it soon.

We had some nice cabins and the cargo ship had a good few facilities, so hopefully we wouldn't get too bored during the trip. I hadn't even looked around for too long, I just threw my luggage into the room and ran up to the window.

"You alright, chica?" I heard Mordecai's voice behind me. I turned around and smiled at him.

"I think so. It feels weird to be leaving. But I guess I gotta get used to it, with all the new Vaults and whatnot." I replied.

"It's gonna be a while until we're going out to find them. They've a shooting range and a swimming pool on the ship, thought you might like that."

"That sounds pretty good. Are you nervous about going back home?" I asked. Mordecai just shrugged.

"I don't even know what home is anymore at this stage." he replied.

"Look at them, guys, aren't they just the cutest?" I suddenly heard Gaige say behind me. I turned around, wondering who she was talking to and looked straight into an ECHO device.

"What the- get that thing outta my face, Gaige!" I protested. She was probably ECHOcasting to her followers. There were quite a good few of those left after the hype about her killing her classmate was over and she had started casting again from Pandora and Elpis.

"Come on, Nova, say something to my followers!" she replied and stepped back a little. I rolled my eyes. Her followers were apparently big fans of me, since she uploaded that video of us sneaking out of the hostel on Elpis.

"Hi everyone. Happy?" I said and gave Gaige a smile. She held her thumb up and then turned the ECHO device towards Mordecai.

"No, no, no, I don't wanna be on your ECHOcast!" he protested, but Gaige just didn't listen until he sighed and cursed under his breath.

"Come on, Mordy. Say something deep." Gaige replied and laughed. Mordecai just shook his head.

"Hey, Gaige's followers. Tell her to stop being annoying." was all he had to tell them. Gaige gracefully ignored his comment and walked up to the window, to record Pandora from orbit.

"This is it, guys. I'm going off planet again. Take one last look at Pandora, for now at least. I'm gonna miss that piece of shit." she said and zoomed in on the planet as much as she could.

"Okay, that's enough. We're off to Artemis, which is Mordy's home planet! How's it feel to go back home, Mordy?" she asked and held the ECHO device in his face again, slowly zooming back out.

"I dunno. I'm kinda looking forward to it. Kinda nervous. Who even cares?" he replied with a shrug.

"Anyone you wanna say hi to?"

"No, now go and bother someone else, okay?"

"You're getting really good." Mordecai said, as I shot bullet after bullet into the target that was on the ship. Target practice was much more fun now than back on Pandora. Mostly, because there wasn't much else to do on the cargo ship. Plus, I had consistently been getting better and better at this from all the training on Pandora, so it was way more fun to actually be successful.

"Thanks. You think I got a chance to win something?" I asked. Gaige was standing around, recording us shooting. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw how she filmed me, lying on the ground with my sniper rifle.

"Definitely." Mordecai answered with a smile and focussed on his own target again. I decided to take a break and sat up, watching him for a bit. I still found it insanely hot to watch him snipe stuff.

"Look at those two, guys. They're gonna be some strong competition on Artemis and they're not even using any fancy technology or anything." Gaige said. I looked over at her and grinned. I had gotten used to her documenting the whole trip on her ECHO device and I was starting to see the fun in it.

"Look at that hot lady over there, she's gonna be slayin'!" Gaige commented and zoomed in on me. I laughed and waved, before I decided to resume my target practice. One day I would look back at Gaige's ECHO casts and laugh about them and remember some good times.

"And Mordecai's dreadlocks are getting more majestic every day." Gaige commented next. I saw Mordecai just shaking his head at her.

She was right, though. Just yesterday we had actually sat down and taken care of his dreadlocks and they looked like new. I was thinking of getting rid of the mess on my head, as well and just going for dreadlocks myself. But I wasn't completely sure yet. It would certainly make things easier, if I did, though.

"And then we have Axton, an unparalleled stud, being trigger happy." Gaige said next and recorded Axton who was emptying magazine after magazine with his assault rifle. It was almost like he was trying to get rid of some frustrations or something. He definitely wasn't trying to hit anything.

"You okay, Axton? You seem to be kinda... uh... angry." I commented. Axton looked over at me and only then noticed Gaige recording him. He quickly smiled and winked at her, before he turned back to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"You just seemed a little... stressed." I answered. Axton was shaking his head and firing another round at the target.

"No, I'm fine and dandy." he said. I heard Mordecai snickering next to me.

"He's under pressure."

Gaige switched the cameras and was recording herself now. All she said was "Wow."

_Song: Bob Marley - Mellow Mood_

I was standing in the bathroom that Gaige and I shared for the trip with my toothbrush in my mouth and music blaring from my ECHO device. It was early in the morning and Gaige was still asleep. She probably wouldn't be for much longer, though. I was in a good mood and getting ready for some target practice, which was more and more fun the better I got at it.

Since we had left Pandora behind us, my mood had only been improving. Maybe I had finally gotten over the fact that I was leaving a large part of my life behind and was getting excited for this whole new adventure, maybe it was the showers that were actually working, maybe it was me getting better at shooting or maybe it was just that I could finally wear comfortable, baggy clothes and relax without constantly being in danger of getting killed.

I was in the process of sorting out my hair and gathering it into a ponytail, which was difficult because there was just so much of it. And it was all over the place. I really needed to do something about that or it would get in my way all the time. I'd have to talk to Gaige about that.

_"I'll play your favorite song, darlin'_

_We can rock it all night long, darlin'_

_'Cause I've got love, darlin'_

_Love, sweet love, darlin'_

_Mellow mood has got me_

_So let the music rock me"_

I was absentmindedly singing along to the music, while rocking back and forth on my heels. My mood just kept getting better, even when I heard a noise at the door. I turned around and gave Gaige a big smile.

She was standing there, barely able to keep her eyes open, looking at me like I had finally lost my mind. But no matter how tired she was, she was still holding her ECHO device in her hands and was recording. I couldn't care less at the moment.

"People, it's 6 in the morning and this is what I have to put up with." she said. I laughed, the toothbrush almost falling out of my mouth. This is how the universe was going to see me. Amazing.

_"'Cause I've got love, darlin'_

_Love, sweet love, darlin'_

_Quiet as the night_

_Please turn off your light."_

I just kept singing along. And I knew I had the worst singing voice in the history of the entire galaxy, but as long as no one complained about it too much, I didn't really care enough to stop singing.

"You in a good mood?" Gaige asked, when I finally managed to have all my hair tied up in one ponytail. I just nodded at her.

"You wanna greet anyone?" she asked laughing. I took the toothbrush out of my mouth, now that I had my hands free again.

"I wanna greet my mum and dad, if they ever see this. Oh, and my little sister Eden - hope you didn't end up taking my place as the family disappointment." I said with a laugh. Honestly, in that moment things like that just seemed so far away and so unimportant, it was easy to joke about them and laugh them off. I didn't even remember why I was so bitter with my family for so long.

"Wow. Some deep words here. Guess I'm not getting much more sleep today." Gaige replied.

"Shouldn't have been sneaking out late at night." I told her with a shrug and grinned at her, as I was brushing my teeth.

"Pfft, don't tell me what to do." she answered jokingly.

_Song: Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent_

"Didn't know you had a sister. What else are you keeping from us, huh?" Gaige asked later that day when we were all just sitting around, trying to pass the time. Mordecai and Axton had started watching some ECHO show together and I just knew Mordecai wasn't having a good time with that show. He'd been complaining about it all night last night, but he had promised Axton to sit through it with him, so now he had to actually get through the whole show.

"I'm not keeping any more secrets. I think. Can't be sure, I forget stuff. But yeah, my sister. Sore topic." I replied, staring at the ceiling. I wasn't 100% sure whether Gaige was recording this or not.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing really happened, Gaige. I mean... she is like 5 years younger than me. And when I went through my rebellious teenage phase, she obviously was my parent's favourite child, so of course I had a massive grudge against her. It was stupid, but so was I, so it makes sense, you know?" I said and sipped my coffee.

"You know anything about her?" Gaige wanted to know. I just shrugged. To be honest, I didn't really hear much about her after I left for Pandora.

"No, not really. I mean, she was always the polar opposite of me, always well behaved and obedient and nice and graceful and whatnot. Never went out partying or drinking, never did drugs, never brought boys home, always good at school, yada yada. She's probably out working at one of the resorts or something. Maybe married with kids, who knows. She'd be the type for it." I told her.

"But have you never had any contact with your family after you left Aquator? I mean I figured you might have gotten some ECHO messages or something."

"Well... there wasn't much. When I ran away from home to go and make some cash before leaving they were trying to find me for a while. Then they just stopped. Don't know what happened. Probably too ashamed of me or something. I sent an ECHO when I left for Pandora, but I didn't hear anything back. So yeah. That's all I got." I replied to Gaige. It was kind of nice to talk to her about it. I mean, over the years I probably had gotten quite a different perspective on things and reflecting about it all like that... it was good. It was like making peace with everything.

"So, they don't know you're still alive and a total badass? They don't know you're with the Raiders? They never heard about Mordy?" Gaige asked, completely fascinated by the lack of connection I had to my family.

"Nah. They probably wouldn't like any of that. They're like... really conservative. Really, really conservative. They wouldn't like me even owning a gun. They'd be up in arms about me joining a rebel group. And Mordy? Hell, I can imagine they'd be nice to his face, but they'd be absolutely appalled. So yeah. There you go. I've no good reason to update them on my situation."

"But don't you miss them or something?"

"I did miss them for the first couple of years, but after a while I got used to it. I mean, I barely even thought about them half the time."

"Wow. That's wild. Hey Mordy, did you know your girlfriend's parents probably won't like you?" Gaige shouted in the direction of the couch they both were sitting on. I rolled my eyes.

"What the fuck, Gaige, don't tell him that." I said.

"Chill, he's not even reacting." Gaige replied and got up to walk over to where he and Axton were sitting. She suddenly started giggling quietly and waved me over. I raised an eyebrow, but got up anyways and slowly made my way over to the couch.

"They're both fast asleep." she told me. I looked down at them, both wrapped in a blanket, a bowl with popcorn between them and a bunch of empty soda cans on Mordecai's side of the couch.

He was indeed asleep, and it warmed my heart how peaceful he looked, especially because he had been up for most of last night, having difficulty falling asleep. It was nice to see him like this, sleeping like a baby.

"Will we draw on them?" Gaige asked giggling. I shook my head, as I took the half empty can of soda out of Mordecai's hand gently and put it on the little side table. He deserved some sleep after everything.

"No, let them sleep. Mordy's been up for most of the night and I'm glad he's finally getting some rest. Seems like his insomnia is getting a little better, since we left anyways."

The swimming pool was nothing much, but it was more luxury than I would have expected from a cargo ship. Sure, you had to keep the crew amused and working on a cargo ship was pretty rough, but still. Looked like Saul hadn't been stingy when organizing this for us. Maybe he wasn't that bad.

There were a few other people around, some of them travelling like the four of us, others were crew members. I honestly wasn't sure how to behave towards the other people travelling to Artemis. I didn't know anything about them. None of them were from Pandora, they were from either Dionysus or Tantalus and had basically been picked up on the way. Not sure who of them was travelling for the competition, either.

"You going in or what?" Gaige shouted from the other side of the pool. I looked around me and figured I might as well jump in. I threw my towel over the railing and walked back, so I could take some run-up.

"Oh my God, she's going for the cannonball!" Gaige exclaimed. I actually wasn't going to go for the cannonball, but now I kind of had to, didn't I? I grinned at her, took a deep breath and started running towards the pool.

"Oooooh, here she comes!" Gaige was screaming just as I jumped in. I jumped into the water with a loud splash and quickly swam up to the surface again, gasping for air and rubbing some water out of my eyes.

"That was one amazing cannon ball, girl, damn!" Gaige shouted and came running over to me.

"Thanks. You know you're still pretty dry yourself." I replied, grabbed her arms and pulled her into the water. She was shrieking, as she fell in.

"Oh my God, I really hate you sometimes!" she shouted as she came back up to the surface.

"Yeah, sure." I replied in a sarcastic tone and laughed. I knew Gaige didn't hate me, we were hanging out all the time. It was then that we noticed a crew member standing at the edge of the swimming pool, looking down at us.

"Uh... can we help you, Sir?" I asked, trying to remember how I'd talk to people back on Aquator. I noticed then and there I wasn't really used to not living on a borderplanet anymore.

"Yeah... I'm sorry, Ma'am, but please refrain from jumping into the pool. It's against our health and safety regulations." the guy said. I could hear Gagie giggle behind me. Oh God, this was pretty awkward. I hadn't been given out to since I left my home planet, mostly because... who the hell would give out to you on Pancora?

"Uh... yeah, sure. Sorry 'bout that." I said. Gaige had burst out into laughter at this stage. I turned back to her, an annoyed and also horrified expression on my face. I shook my head at her, but she kept laughing.

"Oh my God, shut up, Gaige..." I mumbled and turned back to the crew member. He was grinning at us and bent down to me.

"We find it annoying, too, but you know... corporate would go mad if anything happened and such..." he said quietly. I nodded and forced myself to give him a smile. Wasn't his fault we had no idea how to behave, after all. (Well, it was mostly me, to be honest, Gaige just got a great deal of amusement out of this.)

"I understand, Sir. Thanks for the heads up." I replied. He nodded, got up and walked away. I turned around to Gaige and looked straight into her ECHO device. Of course she'd record the whole thing. I didn't even mind anymore at this point.

"That. Was. Awkward."

_Song: Anti-Flag - Captain Anarchy_

"Hey, Mordy, how ya doin'?" I asked when I got back to our room. He was sitting on the bed, an amused expression on his face, looking into his ECHO device.

"Come over here, you gotta see this." he said. I raised an eyebrow, but walked over anyways.

"What is it?"

"Gaige's ECHOcast. She's gonna get in so much trouble."

I sat down beside him and looked at the recording. It looked like she was live streaming or something. She was in some super dark place and talking in a hushed voice, but she looked incredibly excited.

"Okay, guys, it's like really, really dark in here... but we're almost down in the main engine room. This is gonna be so much fun, I mean, I've always wanted to take a look at the engines of such a massive cargo ship. Especially after we built our own little rocket to get to Elpis. So I reckon those ones will be waaaaaaaayyyy more impressive. Maybe I can even find some ways to optimize them and we can use that to build a proper space ship on Pandora, who knows."

Gaige started walking around in the dark, using the little bit of light from her ECHO device to navigate in the dark.

"Oh God, she's gonna break her neck and die or something." I mumbled. Mordecai shrugged.

"She's been doing well so far and I think she's close to the actual engine room, though. Like, she's probably gonna make it. I just wanna see how long she can be there without anyone kicking her out." he replied.

"You know we have to bail her out if she gets caught?"

"Yeah, but it's kinda worth it."

"Okay, guys, just gotta get down this vent and we're in the main engine room. Just gotta open this here..."

There were some drilling noises, as Gaige unscrewed the air vent cover. In my head I could see all possible and impossible horror scenarios unfolding slowly. I just hoped she wouldn't fall in the middle of the technicians and engineers or something when she went through that air vent.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen... wish me luck!" she said and more or less climbed down into the main engine room. There was finally way more light and I could see the grease spots and streaks all over Gaige's face. The engine room seemed to be fairly empty. At least the part Gaige was in.

"So. There we are. There is no one really around, which is good, so... we're gonna take a little walk down here. Lots of cool stuff. Okay, let's check out this console first."

Gaige wandered over to some massive console. It looked really big and really important and... oh God. Gaige was touching it. I knew Gaige was great with technology and machinery of any kind, but... goddamn, I could see how she would kill us all in my head. It was at that stage that I really hoped someone would find her and get her out of there, before she'd get us off course or whatnot.

"Okay, this seems to be an engine maintenance control. Very important, guys, but not actually controls. Let's see what we can find out about those engines, shall we?" Gaige babbled. She was having a great time with this.

"She know what she's doing?" Mordecai asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Uh... probably? I mean, she knows her stuff, but... ah fuck it, I'll echo her to get out of there immediately." I replied and grabbed my ECHO.

"Cool, so we have... can you guys see this?... we have..."

"Gaige, get out of there immediately! You're either gonna kill us all or get in a shitload of trouble and I'm not in the mood to bail you out of anything!" I echoed her. She looked back up from her ECHO device and into the camera.

"Okay, you all heard that, right? Well, first of all, with those controls I can't do any damage. Well, not too bad, anyways. And second..."

Gaige turned around quickly and then everything just went blurry, as if she dropped her ECHO device.

"Oh fuck!"

The recording stabilised and showed her ducking behind an engine. She looked pretty panicked. In the background I could hear some mechanical noise, probably one of the doors opening.

"Okay, guys, they have somehow found me. Stay with me, in case they treat me unfairly or arrest me or something. I need you as witnesses that I did nothing wrong. You'll have to stand up for me, people!"

"Hello? Is there someone there? Identify yourself!"

I looked over to Mordecai just in time to see him facepalm. Honestly, Gaige had just recorded herself trespassing, how did she think she did nothing wrong? This was going to get messy and awkward.

"Oh God, they're coming closer... I better move... this is gonna end baaaadly." Gaige whispered into the ECHO and started moving around the engine. Just as she snuck around the corner, the recording showed a pair of legs and then panned upwards to reveal an angry looking officer.

"We found her. Security to engine maintenance." the officer said into his ECHO device, as Gaige got up. Looked like she was trying to run away.

"You'll never get me!" she screamed and the recording got wobbly and all over the place. She was running. This would end badly.

"Intruder is resisting arrest, hurry up, security!" I heard the officer say, as he ran after Gaige. This would end badly.

"Will we be on our way to security now or do we wait?", I asked Mordecai.

"Let's wait. I think Gaige will be able to get some quality content for her ECHOcast in a confinement cell." he replied.

"AAAHHH!" I suddenly heard Gaige scream and then there was only a recording of the ground and the officer arresting her with the help of some security. Looked like they used a stun gun on her to stop her from running. I sighed.

"Looks like her little adventure is over for now."

I looked at Gaige through the one-way mirror. She was sitting in her little cell, ranting on about how unfair things were. It was almost comical, if it wasn't a real thing happening and I didn't have to bail her out. To be honest, the security people had been really nice about it, but I still had to pay a small fine to get her out of her cell.

"It's just completely wrong! I mean, what if I only wandered in there by... by accident? Would they just convict me then? And... hello? Using a stun gun? That must be against some human rights! I... I mean, I did kinda go in there on purpose. But still. I didn't do anything! I mean, come on, guys. Trespassing? Trespassing doesn't even really hurt anyone. I'm saying it as it is, I've been wrongfully arrested and am being held here against my will. They are the criminals!"

I sighed. I mean, Gaige could have just asked to see the engine room, I didn't really get why she was so stubborn about it. Then again, she was a teenager. She had gotten used to how things were on Pandora. She was probably traumatized. And most of all, she was Gaige. I should've seen it coming.

"I'm sorry about this. I'll pay her fine and get her out of there, no question. She's a teenager and has been on Pandora for too long at this point." I said with an apologetic smile.

"It's alright, she didn't mess anything up, but keep an eye on her next time, alright? She can't be running around in the engine room. It's dangerous and she could hurt herself or others." the head of security told me.

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, anyway." I replied and counted out the fine to bail her out. I really hoped she'd lay low after this. The head of security quickly counted the cash, nodded and then brought me to the cell door to unlock it

"So anyways, I'm just waiting to see when I'm being released or whether I'll even have a fair trial. Who knows, they might just try to silence me, which would make me a political prisoner and-"

"Yo, Gaige. Come on, we're going. I bailed you out, but I'm not doing it again, okay?" I said to Gaige once the cell was open.

"Oh, one second. There seems to be something up. I'll update you guys, when I have news. Gaige out."

_Song: U-Roy - Natty Rebel_

"Space travel is really weird." I concluded. It was a bit out of nowhere, but at this stage Mordecai was used to it. He sat up on his elbows and looked over to me, a questioning look on his face.

"Like, I don't even know what day it is and whether it's morning or evening, because all you can see is space. And I mean... what even is time out here?" I mused. Mordecai laughed and shook his head.

"Nova, it's 10 in the morning. According to that clock over there at least. Too early for philosophical discussions like this." he said.

"Yeah, I was just kinda thinking about it. It's weird. And I'm kinda hungry, but I'm too lazy to get up." I remarked.

"You should get Gaige to get you some breakfast. She kinda owes you after you bailed her out. Where even is she?"

"Don't know, don't care. I told her I wouldn't bail her out again, so that's that. We got any plans for today?" I asked.

"Lots of target practice. We should be getting to Artemis soon, so we need to practice more. There's only a couple of days left at this stage." Mordecai said. I yawned and nodded.

"It's gonna be really sad when we have to get out of this space ship. I mean, yeah, it's kinda boring and dull and stuff, but it just has this vacation feeling to it. Like we don't actually HAVE to do things. When we're on Artemis we have to do stuff again and report to Lilith and whatnot." I told him. I was feeling pretty philosophical this morning, but I had no idea why.

"You been talkin' to Lil lately?" he asked.

"Not as much as I should have, probably. But yeah, she seems to be doing alright. They apparently found out where Athena lives and are having an eye on her right now, to see when they can actually get her. She said she's probably gonna wait for us to come back and do the job, though."

"Huh. Okay."

"Hey, can you tell me something?"

"What do you want me to tell you, querida?"

"I dunno, anything. Tell me something about Artemis. What's it like? What's the food like? You got any cool stuff we should go and see?"

Mordecai looked like he had to think about that one for a while. It probably wasn't that easy to answer questions like that when you've grown up in the place. I mean, everything probably seemed pretty normal to you.

"Well, there's lots of forests, lots of trees. We've got a few nice mountains. There are some bigger cities, they kinda look pretty modern. Maybe a little like Opportunity, but nicer. Not as modern. A little cosier. When you get to the borders of the cities you have a good amount of slums, mostly small cabins and huts, made of makeshift materials. A lot of them are overgrown with plants. That's where I grew up. Smaller places usually have a good amount of actual tree houses. I think just before I left they have started building some luxury ones for tourists."

"Any places we really have to see?"

"There are some nature reserves and such. If we have time we should go and see some of those. I think you'd like them. Apart from that... nothing really."

"That sounds pretty cool, we should definitely go." I said trying to imagine a planet full of trees. Man, I hadn't seen a bunch of green and lush trees in ages. I was really looking forward to it.

"Yeah. Yeah, that should be nice."

It had been about 2 hours now and Mordecai was still working away on my hair. I had decided I would just form the rest of my hair that wasn't dreaded yet into dreads as well. It would be way easier to tie them up and it would be easier to take care of them. Plus, it would look less messy.

Mordecai had actually offered to help me with my hair, because of how long it was. It would have been really difficult for me to do the dreads myself. Plus, I didn't really have experience. The couple of dreadlocks I did have had formed by themselves, because the hair got tangled up.

Gaige and Axton were hanging around the place as well, so it was basically like a big social event. Me getting my hair sorted. And of course Gaige was recording for her ECHOcast, so there were probably a lot of people who could experience this with me. Whatever this was.

"How do you have so much hair, chica?" Mordecai asked shaking his head. I could see he was getting a little frustrated with it, especially since my hair probably in a pretty bad state after Pandora.

"Dunno. Got it from my mum, I suppose." I replied.

_"You have a lot of hair, girl. Like, it's unreal."_ Lilith chimed in over the ECHO. I was talking to her over the ECHOnet, too, mostly because I kinda missed her and also because I felt bad that we hadn't been talking as much as usual lately.

"Well, my mum had pretty big hair, to be honest. My sister has a lot of thick hair, too, but she always kept it at shoulder-length and neat and all. She was such a nerd when it came to her hair." I replied and rolled my eyes.

"You really hold a grudge against your sister, huh?" Gaige asked, her mouth full of popcorn or chocolate or some other snack.

"No. Maybe. A little. I don't know. I don't know what she's like now. I just know that everyone always liked her more than me. Like, everyone that was friends with my parents and all those good and decent people and whatnot."

_"Sounds like you've got some repressed issues there. You wanna talk about that?"_ Lilith echoed.

"No! No, I don't. Stop psychoanalyzing me, Lil." I protested. Axton, who was reading something on his datapad looked at me.

"I dunno, sounds like something someone who has repressed issues would say." he commented. Oh. My. God. I didn't even know that he was actually listening. They were all joking. Right?

"What the hell, dude?" I said and turned around to him sharply. He started laughing and was shaking his head.

"I'm only messing with you, don't worry. I mean, doesn't everyone kinda hate their siblings? In a way?" he replied. I shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess." I answered and looked back at Mordecai who had both his hands on his hips. He didn't look happy.

"Chica, stop moving your head so much or I'm gonna have to tie you to that chair. I can't work like that!" he said. I knew I probably shouldn't have said it, but I couldn't stop myself. This was just too good.

"Kinky."

I swear, the whole room burst into laughter. Mordecai was just shaking his head and mumbling something about "not talking to you anymore".

_"Wow, okay, uhm... that was interesting, Mordy."_ Lilith said over the ECHO.

"Guys, this is what I have to live with. At least for the next month or so." Gaige announced to her followers. I looked up at Mordecai who tried his best to look like he was mad at me. I knew he wasn't.

"I know you can't be mad at me." I said to him quietly. He tried to keep up his stern look, but had to laugh, too. I grinned back at him.

"There. You just can't be mad at me." I repeated. It was pretty funny to me to hear Mordecai snicker to himself trying not to laugh, while he was holding a strand of my hair in his hands.

"I will get mad at you, if you don't stop moving your head!" he said, but he had to laugh again. This would take at least a few more hours and I wasn't even sure if that was good or bad. I was having fun on the one hand, on the other hand my ass and my neck and my shoulders were in bad pain.

"Guys, you'll be doing this for like 10 hours if you don't get a move on with that hair." Gaige commented.

"Yeah, I know that. I mean, you can take over if you want, but my girl here has an unreasonable amount of hair." Mordecai replied.

"Sorry." I mumbled, actually feeling a little bad for what I was putting him through. I knew how much of a bitch my hair could be.

_Song: Raging Fyah - Everlasting_

I was actually pretty glad about having my hair sorted out. I didn't really feel as much out of place when we were getting breakfast the next morning. The breakfast on the ship wasn't really all that special, but they sometimes had fruit and I hadn't seen fruit in a good while. It was a luxury thing on Pandora.

Today we weren't really lucky enough to get a table for the four of us, so we had to split up. Axton and Gaige were sitting at a table with two other women and it looked like Axton was aggressively flirting with both of them. I was kind of curious about how successful he would be with that.

Axton could be really charming if he wanted to and objectively, he was pretty good looking (not my type, but that was a story for another day). Sure, even Gaige probably had a thing for him. She was always on about how handsome he was and how cool he was. He sent that girl's hormones in an unparalleled fit of rage.

But then again, there was some sort of conversation happening at our table and I kinda wanted to focus on that. Couldn't hurt to make some friends on the way, friends would probably be important.

"So yeah, I'm going to see family and Jayna will be in the competition." the man opposite me said. I kinda had missed half their life story, but that was probably besides the point. Mordecai would have to fill me in later.

"Cool. Yeah, we'll both be in the competition, but Mordecai here is from Artemis himself. So he'll have to give me a tour of the place." I said. I had already forgotten the man's name, but at least I knew the woman was called Jayna. She had porcelain white skin and long reddish brown hair that was tied up into a tight braid.

"Where are you from?" she asked, looking at me. Her face was weirdly expressionless and that kind of unnerved me.

"Uh... Aquator." I replied, deciding to play it safe by not mentioning I was from Pandora. Pandora would lead to questions and honestly, as long as I couldn't be sure how she felt about Hyperion. Or about the Raiders.

"Aquator wasn't on the route of this ship." she said.

"Yeah, well, I was born on Aquator. I don't live there anymore." I answered. This was getting kinda weird. Why was she so insistent on knowing where I was from and where I had been?

"So you're from Pandora, huh?" she wanted to know.

"Yeah. Why do you wanna know?" Mordecai replied instead of me. I kinda wished we could have gone for breakfast later just to avoid this conversation.

"Just wondering. My cousin was working on Pandora for a while. You from Hyperion then?" Jayna said. Oh God. This was bad. This was really bad. Her cousin must have been working for Hyperion and if she found out we were with the Raiders things would go... badly.

"No. We were on Pandora just minding our own business. Nothing to do with Hyperion or anything whatsoever." Mordecai answered calmly. I had no idea how he could pull this off in such a relaxed way. I glanced over at Jayna who now seemed to be more relaxed. She gave us a warm smile.

"Good. 'Cause Hyperion shot my cousin when he made the tiniest mistake and I really don't like them." she replied. I sighed with relief. I thought we'd get murdered in our sleep before we would ever get to Artemis. Or we'd get handed over to Hyperion as soon as we set foot on the planet. But it seemed that for once it wasn't an issue that we weren't with Hyperion.

"How are things since Handsome Jack died?" the man beside her asked. I nudged Mordecai to answer because I still wasn't really able to think straight, after getting quite panicked right there.

"A little chaotic, but generally better. The planet's slowly recovering from all the mining. I don't think Hyperion is trying to meddle much on Pandora anymore, they only really got Helios station left." Mordecai answered his question.

"Wow. Must have been difficult. Surviving all that." the man commented.

"Yeah, I suppose we were lucky. You know, just laying low and hoping for the best." I replied, back at the old lying. We were doing anything but laying low, to be honest. Thank God. Otherwise Jack might have still been alive.

"Well, looks like you are going to be the first ever contestants for Pandora, so." Jayna said with a smile.

"Really? Huh. Well, I guess, there aren't really that many people living there and most probably wouldn't be too interested in the competitions. Where were you guys from again?" I answered.

"We're from Dionysus, but my husband is from Artemis originally."

Of course. Of course she wouldn't say his name. I felt too awkward to ask about it at this stage, because we'd had a pretty good conversation for a good while. I really just wanted to actually leave this place, especially since I was done with my breakfast. I wanted to go for some target practice or whatever would get me out of this room. Thankfully, Gaige managed to create a distraction.

"THAT'S MY BOY!" she suddenly screamed. As I turned around I could see Deathtrap floating next to the breakfast buffet. Was Gaige just showing off DT, so Axton could impress the ladies?

"What the fuck, Gaige? Why is DT out?" I asked her.

"The girls wanted to see him. And I'm pretty proud of my boy, so yeah." she replied. I was shaking my head.

"I mean, the breakfast table isn't really the place to show off a murder machine, but okay." I commented.

"Hey! DT isn't a murder machine. He's my sweet little robot friend." Gaige replied.

"Alright, whatever, Gaige, but try not to repeat the Science Fair thing, please? We don't wanna draw a lot of attention. Deal?"

"Fine." she said and DT dematerialised. It actually hurt my heart a little to see him disappear like that. I was getting way too soft.

"Your daughter?" Jayna asked me with a smile. I sighed and just shrugged.

"Not really, but who cares at this point? Might as well be." I replied. This was the perfect opportunity.

"Excuse me, but I think I'm gonna go back to bed for a while. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I'm gonna catch up on that." I said. Jayna nodded.

"Sounds like a plan. See you at the competition, I suppose." she replied.

I pointed at the door and looked back at Mordecai, a questioning look on my face. He gave me a wide smile.

"Puerta." he said. I walked away from the door towards the bed, just in time, because the door opened and Gaige came in recording for her ECHOcast. I sat down on the floor cross-legged and pointed at the bed.

"Cama."

"What are you guys doing in here?" Gaige asked. I couldn't really be bothered to answer her and neither could Mordecai apparently. I just pointed at one of the chairs standing around the table next.

"Silla." Mordecai replied. The table was next.

"Mesa."

"Nova, are you learning Spanish from Mordy?" Gaige wanted to know. I gave her a wide grin.

"Sí." I replied and pointed at the table again. I had missed what he had told me.

"Mesa." Mordecai answered again. He seemed pretty amused by my attempts to learn his language. And to be honest, I wasn't good with languages whatsoever, but I thought I might as well give it a try. Mordecai and I had known each other for almost 6 years at this stage.

"Oh my God, you are so cute." Gaige commented. I held up one of my dreadlocks. I wasn't even sure if I was going for the word for dreadlocks or the word for hair.

"Rastas. Or cabello, if you mean hair. But that's only used for the hair on your head. Any other hair would be pelo." Mordecai explained. I pointed at the mirror in the corner next. I was running out of stuff to point at.

"Espejo."

"Okay, okay. Ask me some stuff, I wanna know how much I remember." I said to him and smiled.

"¿Cómo te llama?"

"Me llama Nova. Come on, we went over that a million times."

"Vale, vale. ¿Qué es esa?" he asked and pointed at the chair.

"Es una silla." I answered. He pointed to the bed next.

"Es una cama."

"This is fascinating." Gaige commented. Mordecai pointed at the mirror. Fuck. I had already forgotten the word for mirror.

"Uh... Es... es una... mirrorera?" I replied. Mordecai was shaking his head laughing. I sighed. I really didn't find languages easy.

"Es un espejo. ¿De qué color es tu cabello?" he asked next. I just gave him a confused look. We didn't cover any of those words, did we?

"... qué?" I replied quietly. I had no idea what he was asking.

"What colour is your hair?"

"I dunno how to say that in Spanish!" I protested.

"Tengo el pelo negro. I have black hair. " he replied.

"Tengo el pelo negro." I repeated.

"Okay, guys. Again, this is very cute. But have any of you seen Axton, though?" Gaige asked. I shrugged.

"Saw him run off with one of the two ladies he met at breakfast the other day. Don't go looking for him, chica." Mordecai answered. Gaige had some sort of look on her face that I couldn't really define.

"Uh... thanks for the mental imagery. Bye, guys." she said and walked out of the door again. I looked at Mordecai, a little confused.

"See, I'm not sure if that was sarcastic or not, because from what I know of Gaige it could really be both."


	3. Chapter 2 or A New Air To Breathe

_Song: Lord Huron - Hurricane; Amadou & Maryam - Senegal Fast Food_

"Wow." I gasped as I stared out the window of the shuttle that brought us down to Artemis. I had been sleeping for half the trip, because I spent half the night before packing all our stuff together and it was pretty stressful, since I never had that much stuff to take care of. The other half of the night we tried calming down Talon, so he would move into his cage again.

But now we were quickly approaching Artemis and all I could see was green, green and more green. There were some grey spots in between, which must be the cities and obviously there were lakes and seas, but mostly I saw green. Half the planet must be covered in forests. I had never seen that much green in all my life, it was amazing. As soon as the grey spots ended, the green began.

"Mordecai, why did you never tell me how beautiful your home planet was?" I asked. I probably had the most stupid looking fascinated smile on my face, but I just couldn't stop it. I was pretty amazed to be seeing that many trees.

"Guess you kinda lose appreciation for it when you live there." he replied with a shrug. He seemed indifferent about it, but I knew he was pretty excited to be back. I could see it in the way he sometimes caught a look out of the window.

"Eden had some really nice forests, but this is more forest than I've ever seen. It's pretty cool." Gaige agreed with me.

"It is amazing! Oh man, I can't wait to see all the stuff down there!" I exclaimed. I was really excited about this.

"It's literally trees. Not like y'all haven't seen trees before." Mordecai replied, looking a little bewildered and amused.

"Yeah well, I'd be saying the same about Aquator and water, probably, but I can imagine you'd be blown away by it anyways." I argued. Mordecai shrugged and it was then that Axton came back from chatting to the pilots.

"Okay guys, we're gonna be landing pretty soon, so no one get up now." he told us as he sat down in his seat.

"Oh God, last time I landed, I ended up in some frosty ice desert and was chased by bullymongs." Gaige said.

"Yikes. How'd you survive?" I asked.

"We found her." Axton answered with a big grin.

"If the first thing greeting me on Pandora was a bullymong, I'd piss my pants. I probably would have died." I said.

"What was the first thing greeting you?" Mordecai asked me.

"Skags, but they were only puppies and I managed to outrun them, so I was good at first." I replied.

"Huh. The first thing I met on Pandora were bandits, then Marcus, then Claptrap, then bandits again. Fun times." Mordecai commented. It was just then that the shuttle finally touched the ground. The landing was a little wobbly, but nothing too bad. I was pretty sure that getting down to Pandora was worse, but it was so long ago I could barely remember the landing.

"Guess, we're here." Axton commented and got up once the shuttle had come to a standstill. We all got up and grabbed most of our stuff - anything we could have on us in the shuttle, really.

"Hey, Mordy. How are you doing? Nervous? Excited?" I asked him quietly while everyone else was busy. I could imagine it was a weird feeling for him to be back on his home planet.

"Kind of a mix, I guess. I dunno, really. I just wanna get Talon out of his cage already, he really doesn't like it. But it's necessary for travelling, so what can I do?" he replied with a slight smile.

When we were finished gathering up our things, there was already a small line in front of the shuttle doors. There weren't too many people travelling on that cargo ship, to be honest, so it wasn't a massive queue, but we were one of the few people that had so much stuff all over the place, it took us ages to finally get everything together and ready for getting off the shuttle.

It felt like a complete relief when the shuttle doors slowly opened. Finally, after all this time in space, I could breathe in some fresh air again and see some daylight. It made it even more exciting that it was a completely new place that I had never even seen before. This was what I had left home for - seeing new places, travelling, finding some sort of purpose somewhere.

When we finally stepped outside, I was pretty overwhelmed. The sun was shining outside and it was warm, but not as scorching hot as it was in some parts of Pandora. And the air was so much cleaner. I hadn't realized what I had been missing the last 15 years. There was a light breeze that made the heat feel nice and mild.

"Well, the weather's already good, so at least we're gonna have a good time trying to find Aurelia." Gaige commented and tapped on her robotic arm. A pair of sunglasses got digistructed over her eyes.

"You can do that with cybernetic limbs?" I asked. It was pretty cool and I had to admit I was a little jealous.

"Yeah. There's a whole lot of stuff you can do with cybernetic limbs and I tried telling you all this time, but you never listened. I mean, you can basically get them to digistruct anything, really." she said.

"Huh. You know, thinking about it like that... it doesn't seem too bad. Can you get customizations like that anywhere?" I wanted to know. Gaige shrugged.

"I dunno. If you can't get them, I can build them into your new leg if I have a bit of free time, anyway." she replied.

"That's really cool. I'll have to think about what I'd like to have... man, it would be handy to just be able to digistruct anything on you at any time..." I mused. Gaige grinned at me nonchalantly.

"Cybernetic limbs are the thing for you, I'm telling you. I'm glad you're beginning to see the opportunities."

"Okay, your robot arms and legs and whatnot are nice and all, but where do we go from here?" Axton chimed in. I was looking around myself. The few people with us had already walked ahead towards a modern looking building.

"I dunno, I guess we follow them?" I answered and gestured towards the building. I looked over at Mordecai, waiting for some sort of confirmation. I somehow figured he'd know what was going on and how things worked.

"Sorry, I was... distracted. Yeah, we're supposed to go in there." he said quickly and gave me a smile. He seemed to be a little overwhelmed himself with being back on his home planet. From what I knew he hadn't set foot on the planet since he was 17. I could barely even imagine what was going through his head.

"What do we do when we get there?" I asked.

"Well... what you do when you arrive on most planets. Go through the terminal, customs if they pull you out, all that. And then you can get to the Fast Travel Stations or get a car or walk away or do whatever you want, really." Mordecai answered.

"Huh. Okay. I never travelled anywhere but Pandora. And Elpis, but Elpis doesn't really count. And on Pandora there was nothing like this." I replied and gestured towards the building.

"I know, I know. I've been travelling around a good bit with the prize money from all the competitions after I left Artemis. It's kind of old news to me at this point." he said. Gaige looked excited as we walked into the terminal. It looked really fancy and modern and to be honest, I had seen places like that on Aquator, but it was still a strange feeling seeing something like that again after such a long time.

"Okay, so are we taking the car or are we taking the Fast Travel and where do we even need to go?" Gaige wanted to know. She sounded really excited, as if she would love to walk to wherever we needed to go, even if it took her two weeks or more. And to be honest, I was looking forward to seeing more of this place, too.

"We fast travel to the registration office and then we'll see. They source accommodation for Nova and me, but you guys might wanna find a place to stay. Somewhere close by, if possible." Mordecai said.

"Alright, let's go then. The Fast Travel is over there. Let's go before they decide to stop us for whatever reason." I replied and walked over to the Fast Travel station quickly. The rest of them followed me. It actually took us quite a while with all our luggage, but we finally got there.

Mordecai quickly checked something on his ECHO device and then put a Fast Travel code into the station quickly. It didn't take long until we were materialising again inside a nice building, almost as modern as the first one. I mean, they all had air conditioning - which was something I hadn't seen in years. It was somewhat comforting that the Fast Travel still felt the same and just as crappy on Pandora, though.

"Okay, Gaige and Axton, you guys wait here, Nova and I will go and register real quick and then get back to you, alright?" Mordecai told them, right as we materialized.

"Okay. We'll just be sitting here, then." Axton replied and walked over to a small bench. It didn't really look too comfortable.

"Have an eye on all the stuff, alright?" Mordecai added. Gaige nodded and gave him a thumbs up, before Mordecai headed for a small window in the wall. I followed him and could make out a person sitting in a room behind that window. I really hoped, Mordecai would do all the talking for me, because I had no idea what was going on and how this worked.

"Good morning, how can I he-" the man in the small room greeted us. He stopped once he looked up and saw Mordecai standing in front of him. He stared at Mordecai for a while and then shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Didn't think you'd ever turn up on Artemis, Mordecai." he said. Mordecai shrugged and held up his hands.

"Well, here I am. I wanna register for the contest." he replied. The man seemed taken aback, but then nodded and tapped through some sheets on a data pad. I looked at Mordecai, who seemed pretty annoyed.

"You know they took the bounty off your head 'cause they all thought you'd never return to Artemis? And that you'd probably have died anyway or would die pretty soon at least?" the man in the office remarked.

"I never die." Mordecai replied with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what you were babbling about all the time, but someone like you? I'm surprised you made it for that long. Anyways, I got you on the list here. What's with the lady?"

"She's with me." Mordecai answered, doing his best to ignore the comments the guy in the office made.

"What, she's signing up, too? Where'd you find her?" he asked, looking me up and down disparagingly.

"How 'bout you focus on doing your job?" I snarled. This guy was really annoying me, acting like he was somehow better than anyone else.

"This is my job, I'm gonna need your details, sweetie." he replied with a condescending smile.

"Well, then why don't you ask me for whatever you wanna know? And don't call me sweetie."

"She's a fiery one, huh?" he said to Mordecai with a grin. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, what's your name then?" he asked, after clearing his throat.

"Nova Haile." I answered, grimacing a little.

"And you're from?"

"Albion, Aquator. I'm contesting for Pandora, though." I replied. He gave me a look as if his eyeballs were going to fall out of his eye sockets any time, after he heard I was from Aquator. Especially that part of Aquator. It wasn't a super rich area, but a good middle class area and close to some of the most touristy areas. Which was logical, since my parents both worked in the resorts.

"Aquator, huh? How'd you end up on Pandora? And with this one of all people?" he asked. I gave him a forced smile.

"None of your business."

"Okay, okay, whatever. Gimme a second to finish this paperwork." he said and started tapping on his data pad.

"Alright. You two can go in they'll go over the schedule and the rules with you and give you the Fast Travel codes for your accommodation. You know the procedure, Mordecai. _Have fun_." he told us with the most sarcastic smile. Mordecai just sighed, took my hand and walked through the door next to us.


	4. Chapter 3 or A Change From Pandora

_Song: OMNIA - The Wylde Hunt; Faun - Karuna_

"I'm really jealous." was the first thing Gaige said after we materialised at our new accommodation. We were all pretty much in awe and speechless. I don't know what exactly I had expected, maybe one of those modern, sterile looking buildings or something, but it was definitely not this.

This here was much better than anything I expected. We were in the middle of a tropical looking forest and in front of us was a full little village of tree houses. And they weren't crappy little tree houses. They were amazing modern tree houses with small, winding staircases leading up to them. There were about three in each tree, connected by wooden stairs.

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" I asked Mordecai.

"Yup. They've really outdone themselves this year. Or maybe things have just gotten fancier since I left, I don't know." he answered.

"What happens to all that when we're gone?" I wanted to know. These were some pretty amazing houses and they were all new, so I wondered if they would just tear them down again or sell them or reuse them in some way.

"They'll probably use them for a few more events during the year, 'cause Artemis is big on sports and all that. And then they sell them pretty cheaply, since they've been built on a grant from some sponsors. So yeah, some poor kids from the slums might be able to afford a good life here some day. But it's more likely some company will snatch them up and make them into a tourist thing." Mordecai replied.

"Wow. That's pretty... I don't know how to feel about that." I said. This was absolutely wild to me. I had never stayed in such a nice place in my life. Not even on Aquator when I was living with my parents.

True, we were living in a middle class neighbourhood, but that didn't mean all too much on Aquator. We had a small house, I used to share a room with my sister Eden, and the house was pretty old, drafty and damp. Nothing compared to the upper middle class houses on Aquator.

"Well, how about you find yours and make yourselves at home for the time you'll have it." Axton suggested. And he was right, we probably should go and find which one we were supposed to stay in and get familiar with our surroundings. After all, there was still a possibility we'd end up not cashing in at the competition or not cashing in enough. In which case, we'd probably have to steal someone's stuff. Better to be familiar with your surroundings if you were planning to rob someone.

"Yeah, let's do that. Mordy, where do we live?" I asked.

"It's on your ECHO map. They sent the coordinates. Apparently we're on the top one, so we have to drag ourselves up the stairs all the time. We'll get a pretty amazing view in exchange, though." he commented.

"Oh my God! I wish I could just camp out with you guys here. This all looks pretty amazing. Mordy, how did you ever leave this place?" Gaige asked. She seemed to be completely blown away by her surroundings.

"Wait until you see the slums, that's where I grew up. And wait until you meet some of the more affluent locals, they're assholes, mostly." Mordecai answered. Gaige was just shaking her head.

"You know what? If I ever get fed up with Vault Hunting, I'll buy one of these tree houses and I'll live out the rest of my days here and sell mangos and everyone will know me by some alias name and I'll adopt like 10 orphan kids and all. Back to the roots, man." she said.

"You know, that actually sounds pretty nice. You can probably afford one of those houses when they go up for sale if you save up a little and do some jobs around the place. I'm sure there are some bounties you can cash in." I replied.

I knew we would need a lot of Vault Hunters to search all the new Vaults and take care of Sanctuary and Pandora in general, but Gaige was just 18 when she came to Pandora. She should get another chance at life. Be able to do something she liked, go to university, do what made her happy.

I looked down at my ECHO map. We were currently at the center of this little tree house village and our place was somewhere a bit further out. If I could trust the map there was a lake not too far from there and we would be able to walk through the forest to get there. I still couldn't believe how beautiful everything looked.

The trees were massive, old and tall trees that looked as if they had been there since the beginning of time. Everything was just unbelievably green. There were a few paths to walk on and I really just wanted to take my shoes off to be able to feel the dark, rich soil beneath my feet.

We had a few places like that on Aquator, but none of them were this sheltered and reclusive, because the places we had were absolutely overrun by tourists during the main season (which was almost the whole year). I looked around at Mordecai who seemed in a much better mood now than just a few days ago. He looked like he was genuinely looking forward to this.

"Well, I guess it's time for you guys to go on ahead. What are we going to do while you're gone?" Gaige asked.

"Yeah, where can we look for accommodation? We should probably go and find something for ourselves at some stage. Before it's too late." Axton added.

"Well, it kinda depends what kind of experience you want. I'd say avoid places like Greytown and Rivas. Things aren't fun there, I set foot in these places a couple of times and none of them were good times. If you want a Pandora like experience, maybe try Whitesands or Inman. They are really poor areas, but not too bad. You can survive there, if you can survive Pandora. If you want something really different, try small villages close to the forests or in the forests, they all should have a guest house or two. If you want luxury, try Luana or Golden Grove. That should help you to get going. I'd look for something luxury or close to those places if you want to find Aurelia." Mordecai explained. I was wondering whether we'd get to see all those places, too.

"Okay. Guess we'll check all those places on a map, then. We'll let you know where we're staying, okay?" Axton replied.

"Sounds like a plan. Tell us if you need help or anything." Mordecai said. I waved at Axton and Gaige as they made their way back to the Fast Travel station. They waved back quickly and then were on their way. I looked back at Mordecai who smiled down at me. He looked really, genuinely happy and I hadn't seen him like that a lot when Jack was still alive.

"You wanna go?" he asked.

"One second." I answered and bent down to take off my shoes. I really, really wanted to feel something under my feet that wasn't sand. The earth felt cold and soft under my feet and I regretted not taking my shoes off sooner.

"Barefoot? Really?" Mordecai said with a smug grin on his face. I just shrugged. This was nice. There was no reason not to be barefoot.

"Yeah, I don't see why not. This soil? It looks really damn good. Compared to all the sand and rock on Pandora." I replied. Mordecai laughed and shook his head.

"It is nice, yeah. Let's go. I think we have a good bit to walk until we get to our place." he said and took my hand, walking ahead. I did my best to keep up with him, but since I was still limping a little I had to walk pretty fast for that.

"Talon will appreciate that we got a place so high up." I told him.

"He will. It's funny. When I was still living here, we always thought the people living in their little tree houses were a little backwards, you know? The original tree houses weren't even close to whatever this is. They were really simple. This here is some new thing. Luxurious tree houses have apparently become some sort of fashion. So yeah. This is really weird to me. I just missed so much while I was gone, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like a completely new place, I guess."

"Yeah, that's what it feels like."

"You gonna show me where you used to live?"

"I don't know, it's not the safest place and it's not the nicest place either..."

"I'd be interested to see it. Hell, Mordy, I wanna know everything, how you grew up, where you're from, all that. Would be a wasted opportunity not to go and see all the places you've ever been." I said with a smile.

"Really? I mean, people usually don't take much of an interest in me as a person. You sure you wanna go?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I answered. It was a little like I was on a quest to know even more about Mordecai's very identity. I wanted to know every little detail, get a first-hand impression of this place and how he grew up and just... I wanted to know and see as much as possible, just because I really loved this man with all my heart and soul.

"Alright. I'll see if we can go some day. Maybe my old house is still standing." he replied with a faint smile.

"That would be so cool."

"Yeah, well, it was already falling apart when I still lived there. And that was 25 years ago. Anyway, looks like we're here. That's the tree we're gonna live in." Mordecai said and pointed at a tall tree, only surrounded by a few other trees. It had the three tree houses in it, like all the other houses, a winding staircase leading up to all the houses. There were some small lights wrapped around the railing of the stairs that faintly illuminated them. It looked really beautiful.

"Wow. This is so exciting, let's go!" I replied and quickly made my way up the stairs, taking two steps at once. I really wanted to see what the houses looked like on the inside. And I wanted to get changed into something that looked less scabby than my usual Pandoran clothes.

It looked like no one had moved into the house on the first level yet, but the second level house seemed to be occupied and from the way it looked it was two girls living there. It was a total mess. If I learned one thing from the hotels and resorts on Aquator, it was that girls' rooms were incredibly messy.

I went up the last bit of the staircase until I got to the platform with our own little tree house on it. This was amazing. There was some sort of pad in front of the door, it was supposed to work with a retina scan. I touched the screen and it lit up.

"Please look straight up for a retina scan." a female robotic voice told me. Mordecai had only just gotten up to the platform with Talon on his shoulder. I looked up and saw a tiny little scanner that scanned my eye quickly.

"Scan complete. Welcome home, Nova." the voice said with a little clicking noise. That was probably the door being unlocked. Awesome.

"You gonna stare at the door forever or you gonna go in?" Mordecai asked, grinning at me smugly. I laughed and shook my head.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm taking some time to admire how smoothly this all went down." I replied and opened the door. There was a strong smell of freshly chopped wood coming from inside and everything just looked new and modern, but still cozy. It was absolutely amazing.

It felt a little like the tower in Tundra Express, just warmer and more welcoming. There was a small kitchen and a cozy looking living room right there, as well as a door at the back of the room, probably leading to the bathroom. In the middle of the room there was a steep staircase leading upstairs, to a second floor, which I presumed had to be a bedroom. My mind was blown.

"Whatchu think, Mordy? Can we survive here for a month?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

"This place looks great. I'd say we can just about survive." he replied, sounding just as amazed as I did.

I went inside and put down my backpack and my other bags, still taking in everything. There were a few terminals all around the house, probably to control any sort of application that was in the place. I slowly walked up the steep stairs and peeked into the bedroom. There was one massive double bed in it. When I looked up there was nothing but leaves. The place had a fucking glass ceiling and it was the single most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life.

"Holy shit, Mordecai, come up here and look at this!" I exclaimed, walking up the rest of the stairs, my eyes glued to the glass ceiling.


	5. Chapter 4 or Coffee Matters

_Song: Santana - Oye Como Va; Simon & Garfunkel - The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine_

"This place is definitely the best place I've been so far." I said, moving a little closer to Mordecai and resting my head on his chest.

"Mh-hm." he mumbled sleepily and kissed my forehead. I looked over at my backpack that had fallen over. My meager belongings had spilled out of it onto the floor and I painfully realized something.

"I think I'm gonna have to buy some clothes while we're here." I announced. Mordecai gave me a confused look.

"Why? You've got clothes. You're nicer without them anyway."

"I literally have two sets of clothes and both of them are barely even acceptable on Pandora." I replied. And it was true. I had two pairs of cargo pants, both basically falling apart and stitched up several times already, three tops and only two of them in an acceptable state (I used the third one to wrap around my burnt foot half the time) and that was that.

"So? That's enough, isn't it? I mean, you can wear one and wash the other and when the other is dry, you can swap, no?" Mordecai commented. I looked at him in disbelief and sighed.

"No, Mordecai. No. That might work on Pandora, but anywhere else? I mean I'm basically walking around in rags, Mordecai. And it's not like we're poor and can't afford to buy some new clothes. We're literally loaded and we're gonna make some extra cash while we're here."

"Okay. So you wanna go and buy new clothes? Is that it?" he asked.

"Yeah. I just wouldn't know where. You'd know better." I answered and sat up in bed. If I didn't want to spend the rest of the day in bed, I had to get up right now or I just wouldn't have the self control to get up and do stuff anymore.

"I only know where to get cheap second hand clothes. Never had any money for anything else while I was here." Mordecai answered.

"Yeah, cheap and second hand should do."

"Good. There should be a market almost every day close to where I used to live. They usually sell some clothes there. Really, they sell anything there, until it gets dark." Mordecai said, as I picked up some of my clothes from the floor. They really didn't smell good anymore. None of them did. But I had to wear something after all, so I put on my cargo pants and my top quickly.

"Sounds good. Should we head there now? Can we get there with the Fast Travel? Or can we maybe even drive? Will we need guns?" I asked.

"If you want, yes, no, and yes. If we go by car people will definitely try to murder us or kidnap us. Anyone can use Fast Travel, but only people with money have cars. And they don't usually turn up in those neighbourhoods." he replied.

"Okay. I think I got somewhat used to Fast Travel by now. Let's do it." I said as I fixed my dreadlocks, tying them up into a ponytail.

"Yeah, just give me... five more minutes?" Mordecai answered. I gave him a smile and nodded. It was then when we heard a knock on the door.

"I'll answer it." I said and went over to the stairs.

"Take a gun with you, okay? Just to be safe."

I walked down the stairs quickly and grabbed my pistol from the kitchen table. I had no idea who could be knocking at our door, but I hoped it was just one of our neighbours being nice and introducing themselves.

"Would you like me to turn on the camera at the door?" the robotic voice asked out of nowhere. I jumped a little, not expecting this. Was that AI reading my thoughts or...? It was weird. But she did have a point.

"Uh... yeah, sure." I answered, a little weirded out. A screen beside the door turned on and showed the outside of the door. This was wild. I walked up to the screen and too a closer look. There were two girls standing there and they looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't think too long about it, before opening the door.

"Hey, what's up?" I said to them as I opened the door. They turned around to me and that is when I saw their faces. And when I remembered why they looked familiar. A blonde girl and a girl with very curly black hair. They looked extremely similar to Anouk and her friend Nadia. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Maybe it wasn't them. Maybe they just looked like them. I tried to calm myself down mentally.

"Hey, uh... sorry to disturb you." the dark-haired girl said and smiled shyly. The blond girl came a little closer to the door with a wide smile.

"We're the girls living downstairs... I guess. If you wanna call it that. And we ran into a bit of a problem and your profile said one of you guys was good at fixing things, so...", the blonde girl took over.

"Profiles? What profiles?" I asked, a little confused.

"Oh, when you went and filled out the stuff, they wrote up some little profiles about everyone from that."

"They did?"

"¿Quién es, querida?" I heard Mordecai ask behind me.

"Oh, sorry, we never introduced ourselves.I'm Anouk and that's my friend Nadia." the dark-haired girl said. No. Oh no. No, no, no. Maybe it was a coincidence? I hoped it was a coincidence.

"Cool, I'm Nova. I'm good at fixing stuff... somewhat. What do you need fixed?" I replied and smiled, trying not to look too taken aback. I was sure I had just turned extremely pale. I felt like I had.

"You okay?" Mordecai asked and came up to the door. Oh God. I had a feeling this could get messy.

"Yeah, I'm good, the two girls from downstairs asked if I can help them fix something. I'm gonna see what this is about and then we can go and head to the market." I told him, hoping he'd get the hint.

"Right. Send me an ECHO when you're done. I'm gonna see how Gaige and Axton are doing." he said. I gave him a thumbs up.

"Sorry, girls, that was Mordecai, he's-" I started, but Nadia interrupted me with a big smile, which somehow put me weirdly at ease.

"We know. Profiles, remember? You're Nova, he's Mordecai and you're both from Pandora. The only people that actually signed up for Pandora."

"Shit, girl, how much did they say about everyone?" I replied. Why had no one told us about this? Okay, they probably had in some small print, but I didn't read that. I put my gun on the countertop next to the door.

"Well, I mean you can read them, whenever you have some time." Anouk said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I probably should. I've never done any of this before, so I have no clue what is going on half the time." I told them.

"It's not that bad, except for some really pretentious people that turn up at these competitions. They can be a real pain. Apart from that they're usually real fun and you meet a lot of people." Nadia replied.

"I see. Well. What do you guys need fixed? I usually fix cars, so I don't know how much help I can be..." I said. I had no idea how I kept my cool so well. I was scared to actually asked where they were from or learn more about them, because I was still in denial that this was probably my daughter with her friend. I just wanted to believe that this was a coincidence.

"Okay, so we went to some small town earlier and they had some sort of second-hand market thing and they sold everything. Like everything. And we found an old Atlas Espresso machine and you literally get the best lattes out of them. Now we still needed to fix it, but we haven't been too successful. Anouk has taken it apart, but we're still trying to work out what is actually wrong with it..." Nadia started telling me. I motioned for her to stop.

"Atlas espresso machine, you say?"

"Yes?"

"Let me handle this, they can be fickle little bitches, but I fixed the one I had so many times, I know them inside out by now. And they make the best lattes ever, so I'll have to have a look around at the market if we can find another one." I replied and stepped outside the door.

"Cool, follow us, we're literally just downstairs. We can come with you to the market, if you want." Anouk said and walked ahead down the stairs.

"Yeah, I was gonna go and get some new clothes anyways. I only have these ones here and a version of this that's a bit more ripped up. Pandora isn't great when it comes to clothes shopping." I replied.

"Oh, you'll definitely find stuff at the market. They had a lot of stuff when we were there." Nadia said. I heard a beep from my ECHO device. It was a message from Mordecai. I read it quickly.

_"What the fuck is going on? Who are these people?"_

I quickly typed an answer while the two girls were unlocking their tree house. Honestly, I had no real idea how I was roped into this or what was going on and how any of this happened.

_"They're the girls from downstairs, I'll help them fix their coffee machine. We can go right after I'm done there, so if you wanna get ready and just wait for me, we can leave straight away."_

_"I know, I know. But who ARE they?"_

"Welcome home, Anouk." the robotic voice from the door said. Mordecai must have heard that.

_"You sure about this, Nova?"_ he asked.

_"I don't even know. No time to talk now, see you soon."_ I replied and turned off the ECHO before he could accidentally give away anything about my daughter. Especially, when there was a slim possibility that this was a different Anouk. Who knew. Anything was possible, right? Right?

"So, you're from Aquator originally, right?" Anouk asked, a shy, but hopeful smile on her face. It almost made me cry to see her like this, because no matter how much I tried to tell myself this could all be coincidence, I knew it. I just knew that this was my daughter. There was no way she wasn't.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm from Aquator. Lived there until I was 18." I said.

"Why'd you leave? It's a pretty awesome place." Anouk replied. I just shrugged, trying to look unfazed by this. What was I supposed to tell her? I ran away from home because I couldn't cope with giving her away and was partying non-stop? Because I was constantly fighting with my family about my going out, my drinking, drugs and hooking up? I couldn't tell her that.

"Had some family issues and ran off to the next best planet I could afford. Didn't have any sort of plan, so I was stuck on Pandora for the last 15 years. Actually almost 16 by now. So yeah. If you have to run away from home, have a plan and enough cash for a ticket to some other place." I answered and forced myself to smile.

"Good to know. Not that I'm planning to run off or anything. But in case and all." she replied with a smile. This was it. This was the perfect opportunity to change the topic before this conversation could get dangerous.

"So. Where is that espresso machine?"


	6. Chapter 5 or Fair Prices

_Song: Amadou & Maryam - Beaux Dimanches; The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Malela; The Doors - Break On Through (To The Other Side)_

_"Hey, girl, you alright? Did you get to Artemis? I haven't heard from you since you said you went on the shuttle."_

Fuck. I had completely forgotten to let Lilith know that I was okay. I felt really bad about that, because I knew she was probably worried and wouldn't stop worrying until she heard back from me.

"You didn't send her a message?" Mordecai asked, shaking his head.

"Oh shut up, you forgot, too." I replied and started recording a message.

"Hey Lil. I'm so, so sorry. I completely forgot to send an ECHO, I feel so bad right now. There is no reason to worry, we landed, we arrived at our place, everything is fine. Artemis is amazing, we're at this little street market right now, because I just realized how much I need some new clothes. I am literally wearing rags and it's fine for Pandora, but not this place. Sorry again."

_"Ah, cool. Good to know. I'll forgive you, because I almost forgot, too. Tina says hi, by the way. Bring us some souvenirs, you hear?"_ Lilith replied promptly. I smiled and added her to my mental list of people that wanted souvenirs.

"Will do. I'll tell Mordy that Tina misses him. Talk to you later, okay?" I answered. We were kind of busy at the moment - looking for clothes, trying not to lose Nadia and Anouk and trying to meet up with Gaige and Axton who had apparently found a place to stay not too far from here.

"Everything okay?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, Tina misses you and says hi. But everything is pretty much normal so far. She told me to get her a souvenir." I replied.

"Should be easy enough to find something for everyone here. Where have your two new friends gone?"

"They're looking for another Atlas espresso machine, so I can get my own personal one. They are the best coffee machines in the whole universe, I swear." I said, my mouth watering just thinking about the coffee.

"Is... is one of them Anouk?" Mordecai wanted to know next, lowering his voice a little. I sighed.

"Well, her name is Anouk. The other one is Nadia. Could be a coincidence, though, I don't know." I replied. I mean, it was kind of bullshit that it could be coincidence. It would be the wildest coincidence ever.

"You know how unlikely that is?"

"Yeah, I know, I know. It just.. They were just there, okay? I couldn't just slam the door in their faces after I opened it. And now I'm in too deep to back out again and I don't know what to do."

"Are you gonna tell her?"

"I don't know, Mordy. If you were her, would you wanna know?" I asked. He just shrugged at me.

"I don't know. Probably not? But the thing is that I am _not_ her. She could feel completely different about this." he answered.

"I know, you're right. But... ugh. I don't know. It's a difficult one and I need some time, okay?"

"Whatever you say. Just try not to fool yourself with this, okay?" Mordecai said. He looked concerned and I couldn't even blame him. I was the queen of fooling myself.

"I'll do my best. So what's the story with Gaige and Axton? Have they found a place? Are we meeting them? What's happening?" I asked, looking around myself.

We were in the middle of some sort of plaza and there were little market stalls all over the place. The place was crowded beyond belief, there were people scurrying around everywhere. The buildings surrounding the plaza looked like they had seen their best days already. The facades were crumbling and the buildings looked old, but they undeniably used to be good places to live in - a few decades ago.

"They said they found a place around here and are going to meet us somewhere. So I guess we can go and you can buy whatever you need, while I keep an eye out for them." Mordecai replied.

"You think they'll be okay around here?"

"Yeah, it's a fairly poor area, but not dangerous. If you don't get mixed up in anything dodgy, you should be fine. They'll survive."

"That's... good I guess. Whatchu think of that?" I asked and nodded in the direction of a long and wide dress with some colourful embroidery on it. Mordecai looked over at it and shrugged.

"Yeah, looks good. Seriously, don't ask me that kinda stuff. I don't think I'm gonna be very helpful with any of that." he replied. I gave him a smile, went over to the stall and picked it up.

It looked beautiful and was made out of some light material. I held it against my body hesitantly - I hadn't really tried on a nice dress since I had left for Pandora. The last nice dress I had ended up as a provisional bandage out in the desert when I didn't have access to anything else. I looked down on myself, a little scared it would just look wrong on me, as if I just wasn't the right person to wear nice things anymore. Pandora had left its traces and while there I was happy to even have something clean to wear.

But unsurprisingly, nothing had changed. It was a little weird to see something other than cargo pants on myself, but it didn't feel too out of place for me. I smiled a little and folded the dress over my arm, so I could look for a few more things. There were a lot of baggy and wide clothes with colourful patterns around and I just grabbed a bunch of things. I really needed stuff to wear.

"How are you gonna transport all this?" Mordecai asked me after a while. I had maybe about 10 or 15 pieces piled up on my arm.

"My backpack is basically empty, Mordy." I replied.

"You know you'll have little chance to wear any of that on Pandora?"

"Yeah, I'll get some things I can wear on Pandora later, don't worry. I mean, I've literally spent 15 years without any nice stuff. I feel like I should be able to treat myself when I get the chance."

"You had nice guns."

"That doesn't really count on Pandora, I mean, it's kinda a necessity."

"Fine, fine. It won't cost a lot here anyways."

"Cool. So, tell me something about this place. Is this where you grew up? Did you buy food here? Did you live in any of those houses?" I asked while I paid for my stuff. I mean, Mordecai seemed to know a lot about all the areas around here. Chances were he even knew a lot of the people here.

"No, I never lived here. These houses were luxury for me when I grew up. We used to live in one of the slums. Not a great area, dangerous and you needed to know the right people and not get too involved in other people's business to stay alive. I sometimes went here, but not too often. For me, this was fancy." he answered.

"Would you still know any of the people back from where you lived?" I wanted to know as we moved on from the stall, just casually looking through what other things were for sale. I had a bunch of clothes now and I was happy with them at the moment. To be honest, I couldn't wait to go and wear them all.

"I'd say about half of them are dead at this stage. The rest... maybe. I dunno. It's been a good while, but I might recognize some of them, if they're still here." Mordecai said as we made our way through some stalls that sold food. One caught my attention - a young woman selling fruits.

I don't know what it was about her, she just had this aura about her, like she knew something, and she was the only one who knew it. She didn't necessarily mean bad, but it was like she had some secret she was really smug about. Like she had a secret life she'd given up to sell fruit in this place.

"You wanna get some fruit? This stuff looks pretty good." I asked, nodding at the young woman who gave me a slight smile.

"Sure, sounds good. But yeah, most of the people I'd know wouldn't be around here. There is one guy... he should be around 70 by now. He used to beg around this area, sometimes selling some small stuff, fixing shoes, fixing cars, anything he could do to get some money to get by, I suppose."

"Why would most people be dead? I mean, this isn't Pandora. And I sometimes hung around the slums on Aquator and I didn't die. Is it so much worse here?" I wanted to know. Mordecai shrugged.

"No idea, I can't compare it. But you didn't grow up in the slums, did you? You didn't know many people from there, or many people involved in all kinds of shady businesses. Most people I knew were smuggling weapons, drugs, doing contract kills - anything you can imagine, really. I've seen a lot of people die when I was young. It's different if you grow up in these places." he said.

"Makes sense, I guess. Damn. That... that sounds really rough. I mean, I knew you grew up poor and all, but I didn't really have an idea. Like we weren't rich either, but probably way better off than you. Fuck." I answered. It was weird to admit that I had no idea how rough life could be for some people. I mean, yeah, I had seen Pandora, but that was Pandora. This here wasn't a border planet.

"It's not as bad when you're used to it." he told me with a smile. I smiled back at him and shook my head a little. It sure sounded bad and I probably wouldn't have survived under circumstances like that, but I guess that was all in the past. At least for now, who knew what was going to happen with our lives.

I turned to the young woman selling the fruit. She had watched us the entire time, but not in an intrusive way. It was weird. She was leaning back against the wooden wall of her little stall, and she seemed relaxed and completely at peace with herself and everything around her, but she had her eyes on us and everything going on around the place. She was paying attention.

"Hi, I'd like to get all these, please." I said to her. Her smile widened a little as she looked at me and she held out her hands so she could weigh the fruits I had picked out. While she was doing that, she looked up at Mordecai.

"They revoked the bounty on you not too long ago, didn't they?" she asked him. Mordecai raised an eyebrow.

"What's that got to do with you?" he replied. She shrugged.

"I watch out for bounties. Like to know who's around."

"You don't look like the killing type. Or the bounty hunting type."

"Never said I was. Other people are. And they like help."

"So you rat out the poor sods with a bounty on their head?"

"That depends on them."

There was some tense silence between them and I honestly felt so out of the loop, it was weird. What was she talking about? And then, for no apparent reason, both her and Mordecai started laughing.

"Pretty smart, alright. You're out of luck, though. No bounty on my head here." Mordecai then said.

"Well, I've heard of you. Still plenty of people who wouldn't like to see you alive." the woman replied with a sly smile on her face.

"Hold up. Let's assume one of those people who wants him dead sees you talking to us. Won't that put you in danger?" I asked her.

"I have ways of disappearing if I need to. Don't you worry about me. Worry about yourself. Heard Hyperion isn't too fond of you either. Wouldn't want them to find out you're out and about in the six galaxies now."

Holy shit. What the hell were we doing still talking to that one? My hand wandered to the small pistol I had holstered to my side. I looked around. Fuck. There were so many people around, it would be almost impossible to kill her without anyone noticing. And then we'd be in deep shit.

"Alright, alright. Here's a deal. We're on your side as long as we're here or if you ever make it to Pandora. But you've never seen any of us. Deal?" Mordecai said. She shrugged.

"I dunno. How about you throw in 50 credits?" she answered.

"No. 10."

"30."

"20."

"20 plus the 7 credits for the fruit." she said, looking like that was her absolute last offer. To me, all of this was pretty wild.

"Deal." Mordecai agreed and handed over the money.

"Thanks. Good to make business with you." she answered.

"I trust you'll also be on our side? In case anyone asks about us." Mordecai replied. She nodded.

"Of course. If I can afford it."

Mordecai just nodded and turned around leading me away from her and through some other stalls.

"Okay, what just happened?" I asked, completely perplexed by what I had just seen. This was some next level gangster shit.

"Let's gather up Gaige and Axton and your two new friends. We'll talk about that later." he replied quietly.


	7. Chapter 6 or Catching Up

_Song: Cheikh Lô - Bambay Gueej_

"So, tell us everything. What happened while we found a place to stay?" Gaige asked, a cup of coffee in her hand. She took a sip from the cup and grimaced, but she tried to pretend she liked it.

"I feel like a lot has happened." I said.

"Well, we've got time, I suppose." Axton replied with a grin.

"Nova's daughter is living below us and they bonded over coffee." Mordecai said. Gaige choked on her coffee and started coughing violently. Axton looked only mildly surprised as he was rubbing Gaige's back.

"WHAT." Gaige finally shouted after she could breathe again. I smiled nervously, because I hadn't really intended to tell them anything about that yet. But well. Mordy was just faster than I was, I guess.

"Yeah, well, those two girls knocked on our door after we had just settled in and I opened, not thinking anything of it. Well, I did think they looked pretty familiar, but yeah. Anyways, they asked me for some help to fix something and they introduced themselves as Anouk and Nadia. So yeah." I explained.

"Hold up, hold up, hold up. You just had a chat with them at the door? Like... how did you not freak or anything?" Gaige asked.

"She's constantly freaking." Mordecai commented.

"Yeah, first of all that and also... I mean, what else could I have done? Without being weird or suspicious or what not? So I fixed their espresso machine and then we all went to the market. They went off looking for stuff, trying to find me one of them, too, because they're honestly good and it would be a crime to pass up a chance like that. But yeah. It's so weird. I don't know for sure, she actually is my daughter, but I mean, I can pretty much consider that a fact by now. But we're talking like we're friends or something? It's kinda bizarre and kinda nice, I dunno."

I took a deep breath after I finished saying that, while everyone else just looked at me, seemingly at a loss for words. I suppose it was a lot. I mean, I had only just now realized all that.

"Wow." Gaige said after a while.

"Yeah. So that's that part. They're gonna meet us here, actually, so... I dunno, act normal?" I replied.

"Does she know you're her mom?" Gaige wanted to know. I sighed and shook my head, hoping Gaige wouldn't accidentally spill the tea.

"Okay. Oh God. I'll try and keep that in mind. Well, we better talk about something else, in case they turn up soon. What were you up to after you split up at the market?" Gaige asked.

"I got some clothes and then we went to buy some fruit and... well, I don't really know what exactly happened, Mordy promised me an explanation." I answered. Mordecai looked up from his coffee and shrugged.

"Well. People with bounties on their heads pass through markets like this one a lot. And there are bounty hunters and hitmen out to get them. But then there are people that are smart and less reckless and they just sit back and gather up information from everyone and then sell on that information. Or they get paid by the targets to keep their mouths shut. The girl that sold us the fruit was one of them." Mordecai said and took another sip from his cup of coffee.

"So? You don't have a bounty on your head anymore, right?" Axton mentioned. Mordecai nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. There's still people that want me dead, though, so yeah. That's good to know. We paid her to keep quiet and warn us of anyone that might find us. In exchange we'd keep her out of everything and protect her if she needs protection. So yeah. That's all that happened." he explained.

"When all that went down, it sounded like some serious stuff was going down. Like, it was scary and I had no idea what was going on." I added.

"Sounds scary. Never heard of anything like that." Gaige said.

"I've only heard of that on the border planets. Is that a thing that normally happens on planets like this?" Axton wanted to know. Mordecai looked pretty amused about our ignorance.

"It does happen everywhere, y'all just grew up way too privileged." he replied and snickered a little.

"I mean, if you think about it, it's a pretty smart thing to do. You know everyone's business and you can use it to your advantage without even getting your hands dirty. Pretty good way to get by, if you ask me." I said.

"Yeah. I'd have stayed away from her, if I had known, but I guess I'm a bit out of the loop myself. It used to be an old woman who would do some fortune telling on the side who would gather information around this area. She pretended to be blind, but she had eagle eyes, honestly. Guess, she died at some stage and this new girl took over. And fair play to her, she's doing a good job at being inconspicuous." Mordecai said with a shrug. I was starting to wonder if there was a way to find out if there were any bounties on someone's head on any planet out there.

"Wow. Okay. So what, you have like your personal warning system now? Will you even need it?" Gaige asked.

"Well, I suppose it can't hurt, if we decide to wander off into the slums. Knowing who's out to get you can never hurt. I don't even know why I expected there wouldn't be trouble if I came back." Mordecai answered with a shrug. For someone who knew that people weren't happy to see him alive he seemed really, really relaxed. Maybe he was just too used to it at this stage in his life.

"Man, that sounds like a... like a really grim outlook, dude." Gaige replied and still forced herself to drink more coffee even though she clearly didn't like it. She had told me she wanted to try and give up on hot chocolate now that she was leaving Pandora, since she wasn't a little girl anymore or something like that. It was bullshit, obviously, but she would find out for herself soon enough.

"So, how'd you guys find a place to stay? Where are you staying?" I wanted to know. Axton finished his coffee.

"Well. We went to the luxury places first to see what it was like and... damn, first of all, it all looks fantastic, but it's expensive as hell and people are pretty snobby for the most part. So yeah. Gaige said they'd kill her mojo, so we came to this area and there was a lady, maybe around 40 or so, with four little kids, who was renting out a flat in her house. Her husband apparently died and she's struggling to feed her children. We figured we'd do a good deed and stay there." he said.

"Sounds good. You should be fine there, I'd say." Mordecai replied. I was distracted by Anouk and Nadia approaching us quickly. Oh God. I wasn't sure if I was actually ready for them to be here and see Axton and Gaige and... I probably was worrying too much about things. The problem was, I couldn't just stop worrying.

"The girls are here." I mumbled, probably pale as a sheet, judging from Gaige's concerned look.

"Stay calm, okay? You got this. You had this when you first met them, you'll be fine. Take a deep breath." she said quietly.

"Shut up, Gaige, you're just making me more nervous." I whispered through clenched teeth, as I smiled at the girls and waved them over. It made me kind of proud to see Anouk wearing her long curly hair open and natural like that. I was always so afraid of what people would think of me, I constantly straightened it when I was her age. I wish I had just been myself more.

"Hey, everyone. Looks like you guys found some more people!", Nadia said with a big smile on her face. She definitely had the more outgoing personality here, which was probably why she had her own ECHOcast.

"No, they're actually our friends who came with us from Pandora. They're here to look for someone, so we all travelled together." I explained. Gaige smiled widely at them and I was praying this wouldn't get awkward.

"Sit down. Have some coffee." Mordecai added. Honestly, sometimes I thought he had way better social skills than all of us combined, he just decided to hide them from us. The girls pulled up two chairs and sat with us.

"Alright, our friends here are Gaige and Axton. Gaige and Axton, those two are Nadia and Anouk, my- who we met earlier." I said once everyone had settled down. Some quick introductions were made, more coffee was ordered and I was nervously holding onto Mordecai's hand under the table.

"Okay, first of all, I'm a huge fan of your ECHOcasts." Gaige immediately said to Nadia, once they were past the first few bits of small talk.

"Really? Thanks. I'm literally only doing them for the fun of it, I don't even know why there's so many people watching it. I mean, the stuff I cast isn't even that interesting." Nadia replied with a laugh. The two of them launched into a full on conversation about ECHOcasting.

"Sorry, guys, we couldn't find a second espresso machine. But you guys can use the one in our place, if you want." Anouk said to me and Mordecai.

"All good. I'm sure we'll have an easier time finding one on Pandora anyway, I just hadn't really thought about looking for them, you know?" I replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like you forget about something completely for a while and then you suddenly think about it and then you want it."

"Ugh, yes! It's always like that, isn't it?"

"So, you've been to Artemis before?" Axton suddenly chimed in.

"No, I actually haven't. I've been to a few places - Demophon, Dionysus, Eden-7, Hermes and a good few times on Aquator, but I haven't been to Artemis before." Anouk answered. I raised an eyebrow at Axton, not sure what he was trying to achieve here. He wouldn't try to flirt with my daughter right in front of my eyes, would he?

"I haven't been to any of these places yet. You got a favourite?" he wanted to know. Anouk bit her lip and looked into the distance, thinking about the question.

"I don't know. I don't think I could decide. They all have their good points. I guess, my favourite would be Aquator, but I'm probably a little biased about that." she answered with a smile.

"What's Dionysus like?" I asked her. I knew it was where Lilith was from, so I was kinda curious about that one. Plus, I really didn't want to get talking about Aquator, in case I'd have some accidental slip-up.

"The architecture isn't that great, there are some nice landscapes to look at, but the parties are absolutely insane there. If you wanna go there, go for the night life." Anouk replied enthusiastically. My first thought was to go into full mum mode, especially since about 5 years of my life had been about the most insane parties and look where it got me. But I managed to control myself.

"You like going out?" I answered. Anouk shrugged.

"Yeah, from time to time. Not all the time, but I do enjoy it once in a while." she said. I smiled, feeling relieved to hear that. She seemed to be much more reasonable than I ever was.

"I know a good place here, if you ever wanna go out here. Not sure if it's still the same, but I doubt much has changed." Mordecai suddenly commented. He lightly squeezed my hand, as if he knew just how relieved I was that Anouk wasn't even close to being as bad as I was.

"Sure, sounds like fun." Anouk replied, as nadia nudged her.

"Sorry, guys, I think we'll have to go. Some of the other Vladof guys wanted to meet up for drinks soon, so we better get going. See you later!" she said and they got up and said their goodbyes.

When they had left, we just sat there. I knew everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to say something, but I was just completely dumbfounded. I felt like crying and laughing and shrugging it off all at the same time. I had started this thing, somehow, and now I didn't know what to do with it.

"Nova, that girl definitely is your daughter." Gaige said after a good while. I looked up at her.

"What makes you say that?"

"You look kinda similar, you have the same eyes, the way you talk, your gestures, facial expressions - it just makes sense." she replied.

"Yeah. When she said that thing about the most insane parties on Dionysus, it was almost like you were saying it. It was weird." Axton agreed. I didn't even think he had paid much attention at all.

"The way you looked at her gave it away. You looked at her like a mother would look at her child. You looked so proud." Mordecai finally added and that was what sent me over the edge. I started bawling my eyes out right there, in the middle of the street.


	8. Chapter 7 or To The Roots

_Song: Damian Marley - Welcome To Jamrock; The Architect - Dreader Than Dread_

"You got your guns?" Mordecai asked. I nodded.

"Got your knives?"

I nodded again.

"Shield working?"

"Yes, Mordecai. Relax. I survived on Pandora with the shittiest shield possible. What's the worst that could happen?" I replied. Mordecai sighed.

"Don't make me think about that for too long." he replied.

"Are you sure you're okay with going back there? I get the feeling a lot of stuff happened back in the slums that you don't wanna face again." I said. We had been getting ready to go and see where Mordecai used to live and he was so nervous about anything happening to me, it was sweet, but also kind of concerning.

"It was... I dunno. Rough, I guess? Half the scars I have aren't from Pandora or any other planet, they're from Artemis. You know how my father had a temper. You know how people would just threaten you on the streets with knives and guns. I had an older brother who was always involved in some sort of shit. I made a good hostage or something. What I'm trying to say is, that growing up there wasn't fun and I have no idea what's gonna expect us when we get there." he replied.

"I see. Hey, if things get dodgy, we'll leave, alright? We survived Pandora, we survived Hyperion, we can do this." I tried reassuring him. He nodded at me and turned back to the Fast Travel Station to put in the code.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready when you are." I replied with a smile. I hoped I was really ready. I mean, yeah, I had been to the slums back on Aquator, and they were pretty bad, but I felt like it would be different going there with someone who actually grew up there. I wasn't sure what to expect.

When I opened my eyes again after the dizziness from fast travelling had faded, I found myself in a dark building. There was a flickering light that illuminated a small portion of the room. Looked like Pierce Station, just... worse. I looked over to Mordecai who looked around himself slowly.

"This the place?" I asked.

"That's the place alright. They built an actual building around the Fast Travel Station, so that's new." he replied.

"How do you know this is the right place, then?"

"The smell."

I hadn't really focussed on that right now, but as soon as he mentioned the smell, it was there. And it wasn't great. It was like a mix of bilgy water, rotting garbage and city smog on a hot day. And in between there was the smell of chemicals and greasy food, the greasy food smell making the whole experience very confusing.

"I see what you mean, I think." I told him and walked over to the light. There were a few posters and notes hanging up on the wall, most of them torn or scrawled on. A whole lot of them were bounties and police notices. There were one or two posters advertising schools among them, too.

Getting closer to the door leading out into the streets, there was another smell that I recognized. It took me a while to realize what it was, but the closer we got to the door the stronger it got. Weed. Unmistakably weed. That smell was a big part of my life back on Aquator, I could pick it up anywhere.

"Someone must be lighting a massive blunt out there." I said to Mordecai with a grin. He laughed and shook his head.

"Nah, the smell is everywhere. Give it five minutes and you won't even smell it anymore." he replied.

"Damn. So you got no family left here?" I asked. He shook his head.

"None that I know of. My parents got deported. Probably. My younger brother, too, I suppose. Unless they got a hold of him and put him into some other orphanage, no idea." he answered.

"You ever tried finding him?"

"For a little while, but I gave up pretty quickly. Might see if I can actually find out what happened to him." Mordecai said. He opened the rusty metal door and held it open for me. I stepped outside and was confronted with a bunch of makeshift houses. They looked like they'd fall apart if there was ever a storm.

There was trash lying all over the street and at every corner there was someone standing around, tending to some sort of business or just looking shady in general. I had seen stuff like this before, but it had been a long time ago and I had been slowly eased into it. This was more of a culture shock, because I had seen all the nice stuff first and now, all of a sudden, this.

I stepped out onto the narrow street, Mordecai following me closely. I could feel people looking at me curiously, probably trying to find out what I was doing here, on their turf, as an outsider.

"So, this is where you grew up?" I asked, not sure what to say. Mordecai quickly looked at the people around us, probably checking if it was someone he'd know or someone we should be wary of.

"Yeah. It's not very impressive, I know. But you wanted to know. I used this street to get to school over the Fast Travel station. I passed a bunch of people selling food on the streets on the way, so I'd usually have breakfast on the way, if I could afford it. Couldn't afford it most of the time, though." he explained, a slight smile on his lips, which was weirdly out of place with what he had just told me.

"Did you finish school?" I wanted to know. I didn't know if I ever finished school. I know I didn't drop out, but I had no idea whether I had graduated or not.

"Yeah, funnily enough. I missed a good bit of it when I was on my own, but I just remember my mother working so hard to get me and my brother into school and to make sure we'd stay in school, I finished it. Couldn't have lived with myself, if I dropped out." he replied. He never talked much about his family, but I could see how much he cared for his mother. I felt like I didn't know Mordecai at all, because I hadn't seen this side of him much yet. We just never talked about family.

"Wow. That's-"

Mordecai interrupted me by stopping me in my tracks and holding onto my arm. I hadn't realized, but it had gotten pretty quiet when we turned around the corner. He motioned for me to stay close to the wall of a house and be quiet. There were a few people around, a young girl carrying a baby on her back and three bags in each of her hands, a few kids playing on the streets, a couple of young guys, no one that looked suspicious. But I had gotten nervous now.

Something was going on and I had no idea what it was. But apparently Mordecai had some sort of gut feeling and that's why we were staying close to the house walls instead of walking around out in the open. And I had to admit the atmosphere was weird. Something was up. The girl with her baby was walking faster, the young kids playing looked around a little more.

"What's up?" I whispered.

"Not sure. Got a bad feeling..." Mordecai mumbled, as we snuck along the house walls. A group of young men turned the corner and that was when all hell broke loose. I had no idea what exactly happened and how it happened.

"Get down!" someone shouted and then there were shots and out of reflex I lay down on the ground, hands over my head. There were some screams, more shots, some shouting and then a group ran past us quickly and everything was over. I had my eyes closed through all of this and only now opened them again. It was confusing to look around and everyone was gone from the scene. The two young kids were looking out of the window, three young men were lying on the ground and the young woman carrying the child on her back was kneeling down.

I got up from the ground, looking around. The street was fairly empty for now. I walked over to the young woman to check whether she was okay. She was holding her leg and looked like she was in pain.

"Are you okay? Did you get shot?" I asked as I walked up to her. She turned a little to look at me.

"They got my leg..." she said, her voice sounding a little panicked. The baby on her back started crying loudly in that moment and from far away I could hear sirens. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mordecai coming towards us.

"Let me have a look at it." I replied. Sure enough, there was a bullet wound in the middle of her thigh. Thank God, Mordecai had been so worried, because I had packed a few healing hypos.

"We gotta go, cops are gonna show up pretty soon." Mordecai said to me. I got a bit of a fright, because he suddenly turned up behind me.

"We gotta help her!" I protested. Mordecai looked around quickly.

"Fine, but we gotta get away from here, if we don't wanna get in trouble. They won't believe we only got caught in the crossfire. Plus, we could get a whole lot of other problems, even if the cops don't get us." he replied. I nodded. I had only a faint idea of how things worked here, so I figured it would be best to trust Mordecai on that. I got up from the ground.

"Can you get up? We'll help you get away from here, okay?" I said to the young woman. She couldn't be much older than 18. She nodded at me and slowly stood up, the baby still wrapped to her back and crying. I quickly picked up some of the bags of food she had been carrying and put one arm around her for support. Mordecai did the same, and we quickly got her away from the street.

After we turned a few corners we sat her down against a wall. I took the baby out of the sling, so she could lean against the wall. The baby was still crying and I tried my best to get it to calm down, but there was no way. The young woman reached out for it and I gave her the child.

Her leg was bleeding badly. I quickly looked through the pouch I had on my leg. I found a health vial and some bandages from one of the healing kits. It'd have to do for now. I wished I could have cleaned the wound, but I had nothing to clean the wound with. No alcohol, not even water.

"Don't worry, this'll barely hurt." I said quietly, as I jammed the health vial into her leg. She squirmed, but didn't say anything. I looked over to Mordecai, who was trying to keep her calm.

"Where do you live? We'll bring you home." he said to her.

"Just a few streets from here. Between the school and the tyre shop, if you know where that is." she replied. Mordecai nodded.

"I'm from around here. Don't worry. I know the place. We'll get you there. Are you there on your own?"

"No, I'm sharing with two other girls and an older woman." she answered, as I wrapped the bandage around her leg. I looked up at her and smiled at her.

"We're all done here. Let's go. I'll help you walk." I told her and got up.

"I'll take the food." Mordecai added.

"You don't have to help. It's okay. Don't go out of your way just because of me. Especially not if it'll get you in trouble. I'll manage." the young woman said. I shook my head. I mean, she could barely walk.

"No, no, no. We'll get you home. I'm sure it's not far out of the way?" I replied and looked over at Mordecai.

"No, it's actually absolutely on the way. I used to live in the same house. So it's right where we were headed anyway." he answered.


	9. Chapter 8 or Family Reunion

_Song: Radical Face - Welcome Home, Son; The Deep Dark Woods - Big City Lights_

"Looks like no one else is home..." the young woman said when we went into the house. It didn't exactly look stable, but it was about as well-built as most bandit places on Pandora. It felt a little strange to actually be in Mordecai's old house. Only that he didn't live there anymore and probably hadn't lived there in a good while.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" I asked the girl. She shook her head. On the way she had told us that her name was Camila.

"I should be alright. Yolanda is never out for too long. She is the one renting out this place to us." Camila answered.

"Let's wait until she's back, so. Wouldn't wanna leave you on your own. So what was that shooting about? It was over so quickly. Really weird." I asked, looking at Mordecai. He shrugged.

"Not sure. I don't really know what things are like at the moment, but it was probably something gang related. They knew where their targets would be and they got them and got away quickly. People get hurt by the crossfire. It happens a lot out here." he answered, as he tried looking around the house inconspicuously. Something was up here and he was trying to hide it. Maybe it was just because this was his old house, but something just seemed off.

"How did you ever get out of here?" Camila asked, gently rocking her baby in her arms to calm it down.

"My parents were deported when I ran away from home. I got into an orphanage and then went off planet when I was 17. Long story." he said.

"Truxican?" she wanted to know with a smile. I mean, it was kind of obvious with his accent. Mordecai nodded.

"You're not from here either." he replied, stating the obvious.

"No, I'm from Promethea. Figured I'd start new here and would hopefully be able to have a better life at some stage. But I'm still here after five years." she answered. She was from Promethea? Wow. Promethea sounded like it could be a really rough place. If you weren't working for Atlas, that is. And Atlas was apparently pretty much non-existent at this point, so...

"How old is your child?" I asked her.

"He's a year old. I left Promethea when I was 16. Had him last year, but his daddy got killed." she answered, smiling down at the child. Fuck. I realized that that would have probably been me if I had kept Anouk. The few times I had seen the slums on Aquator were when I was going out with her father. When I became pregnant, I didn't have any contact with him anymore and last I heard was that he was arrested for something. It was like I was seeing how things could have turned out for me.

"Oh, sorry to hear that. So, who are the other two girls you're sharing with?" I asked to change the topic.

"One of them works at the market, the other one... I don't know, she hasn't been living here for very long. I'm not really sure what she's doing or why exactly she's here. And Yolanda... I think she used to live in this house as well, but I'm not sure. She doesn't talk too much about her past or her family." Camila explained, as we heard someone at the door fiddling with the lock. She held her baby closer to her chest, watching the door intently.

"Yolanda?" she asked, tensely waiting for an answer. I put my hand down on my gun, getting ready to use it if I needed to. I looked over at Mordecai and he seemed to be somewhat uneasy.

"Sí, sí, it's me. Don't worry." we heard a muffled voice from the door. Camila relaxed and smiled at us, as the door opened. At the door there was a woman that was maybe around 60 years old. She had shoulder length white hair and warm, dark brown eyes that were surrounded by a few wrinkles. Her eyes fell on Camila and the bandage around her leg. She looked worried all of a sudden and rushed over to her. I wasn't even sure she had noticed us.

"Dear God, what happened to you, Camila? Did they shoot you? Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What happened?" she started asking when she saw the bloody bandages. Surprisingly, Mordecai had taken off his goggles at this stage. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

"There was a shooting, I got caught in the crossfire. But it's okay, these two helped me. They took care of the wound in my leg and brought me home." Camila answered quickly. Yolanda stood up and looked at me and Mordecai. She only glanced at me quickly, but she squinted at him, as if she was trying to see something that wasn't there. There was a weird atmosphere in the room.

"Their names are Nova and-" Camila started, but she got interrupted by Yolanda.

"Mordecai?"

It sounded more like a question. How did she know? What was happening? Mordecai smiled at her shyly.

"Hola, mamá." he replied quietly.

Everything was silent for about a minute. Mordecai looked up at Yolanda nervously, she looked at him in complete disbelief, I tried to process what had just happened and so did Camila. I mean, I figured I'd never meet Mordecai's parents ever. I wasn't prepared for any of this. And then all hell broke loose.

"Mordecai! How dare you?! How dare you just turn up here after all those years, after you disappeared because of that stupid, silly fight? How dare you? I've been worried about you, worried sick!" Yolanda shouted and walked towards him. She poked him in the chest every time she started a new sentence.

"How dare you just waltz in here after you've been gone for so long and after everything that happened to your brother! You never even let me know that you were alive and that you were okay and how do you think I felt getting shipped off this planet, to some dump, without you? I can't believe you just show up without even warning me! I had made my peace with not knowing what happened, I thought you were dead!"

"I'm sorry, mamá." Mordecai said gently and just hugged her. She stopped talking and just started sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry." Mordecai said again, as he held his crying mother. I felt a tear roll down my cheek as well, I didn't even know why. Maybe I realized how much I regretted not talking to my family more after I had left. Maybe it was seeing Mordecai this upset about his mother crying.

"Where have you been all this time, tesoro? Why didn't you let me know you were alright?" Yolanda asked.

"I... I didn't know where you were or what happened. I came back after a week and the house was empty and the neighbours said you were deported and... I got scared they'd get me, too, so... I don't know. They found me and put me in an orphanage. I didn't know where you were. And then I had to leave, because they put a bounty on my head and I just kept travelling around..."

"25 years... what did you do for 25 years... how did you manage to survive with a bounty on your head?" she asked.

"Well, I had... Bloodwing. And I learned how to use a gun. Made money by winning competitions. And then I ended up on Pandora and..."

"Pandora? That crazy planet where everything tries to kill you? The one with all the stories of the Vault?"

"That one. We found it. I found the Vault with some friends. Both of them actually. God, there is so much that happened, I don't even know where to start... is... is he still alive?" Mordecai replied.

"No. Your father is dead. Drowned after falling into a river when he was drunk." she answered.

"I see." Mordecai said, looking like he was not sure what to say.

"I came back here after that, seven years ago. Found the house again, managed to buy it back. I was hoping you'd come back for about two years, then I decided to take in some girls to live here. I really thought you were dead, Mordecai."

"I'm not. I... I didn't think I'd ever see you again, I... there's someone you gotta meet..." he replied and looked over to me. Yolanda turned around and gave me a smile. She looked back at Mordecai with an even wider smile. I gave Camila a confused look, as I had no idea what was going on. I still had trouble processing what had just happened, but she just smiled reassuringly.

"Mordecai, I... I didn't know you had a family... I never thought I'd see the day..." Yolanda said, looking touched.

"Well, ma, it's only her, really. I... uh... I met her on Pandora." he explained. I smiled at her, not sure what I was supposed to say.

"Hi, I'm Nova." I introduced myself and gave her an awkward wave. Yolanda was wiping another tear from her face.

"It's nice to meet you. I'd come over and give you a hug, but I haven't seen this one here in so long." she replied. I laughed. It was quite a relief to see her reacting that well. I mean, I wasn't exactly a good person and I doubted that she'd be as happy if she'd know that. Then again, maybe she wouldn't care at all.

"It's... uh... nice to meet you, too." I answered and leaned against a wall. I felt a little like I was intruding in their family reunion, so I just tried to stay in the background as good as possible.

"So how come you are back on Artemis now? Do you need a place to stay? You can stay here with us, if you want. I'll make us a meal, how about that? You have to stay at least for dinner." Yolanda said and let go of Mordecai, so she could get started on a meal. This whole situation was still really confusing for me.

"Ma, I didn't think you'd be here. They revoked the bounty on me, so Nova and I are here for the competition. We need to win some money, so she can get a cybernetic leg. We got here by coincidence, really. We're actually staying in one of the tree houses they built." Mordecai explained.

"I've heard about them on the news. They seem to be really nice. Nova, is there anything you don't eat?"

"No, I eat pretty much anything."

"Don't be shy, there are so many things Mordecai doesn't like, I'm used to it."

"No, it's fine. I really do eat anything. Do you want me to help with anything?" I asked. Maybe I could at least make myself useful.

"Oh no, no, you just sit back and relax. Unless you want to help poor Camila pack away her shopping?" Yolanda suggested. I looked at Camila and she gave me a big smile. She looked exhausted.

"That would be a great help, thank you." she replied. I went over to the bags and started packing the food away in the kitchen, hoping I'd put them all where they belonged. Or at least that Camila would correct me if I was completely off.

"Is Bloodwing still as picky with his food as well?" Yolanda asked. I stopped what I was doing and looked over to Mordecai. The room was completely silent and Yolanda looked up from what she was doing.

"What? Oh no. What happened?" she wanted to know.

"Bloodwing, she... she's dead. She was killed." Mordecai answered. Yolanda gave him a sympathetic look.

"Oh no, sweetheart. I know how much Bloodwing meant to you. I remember when you brought him home and you just took care of him every day. I'm so sorry." she replied. Mordecai looked a little embarrassed, but also sad.

"Yeah, let's... let's not talk about this. I have found a new bird, Talon. Eats pretty much everything at this stage." he replied.

"That's good to hear. We don't have much, anyways, it's difficult to take care of myself with your father... gone." Yoland answered and smiled weakly.

"What about Felipe? Where is he?"

"Felipe, he... well... I don't know how to say this..."

"What happened to him?"

"He got in trouble a lot, got involved in some gangs when he got older..." Yolanda started, but trailed off. Mordecai was shaking his head, looking like something terrible was dawning on him.

"No... no, no, no. Don't tell me he's dead, ma." he said.

"He's not, he... he got in trouble and he's been in prison for the last... seven years I think. I don't know what exactly he did or for how long they are trying to keep him in or how he is doing right now. I haven't heard from him since he got there. All I know is that he kept saying he was innocent and that was the last I heard of him."

"Is he innocent?" Mordecai asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea who to believe. It all happened really fast and I don't know if he did anything wrong. If you're still travelling all around the universe... please, if you find out what happened, let me know. I have gotten one son back already, maybe I can get my other son back as well."


	10. Chapter 9 or Competition Time

_Song: KMFDM - More & Faster; Anti-Flag - American Attraction_

There were so many weird things about being in a sharpshooting competition. I think the weirdest part for me was that I knew I was being watched and it made me even more nervous than I already was. I was waiting to go out there and get into position, but my hands were all shivery and it sucked. Because I needed to be calm and focused. The last thing I needed were shaky hands.

The other really weird thing was how they gave us these headphones to protect our hearing. I almost laughed out loud when they handed them to me. It just seemed a little ridiculous when I had grenades exploding next to me and have never shot a gun with any sort of protection before.

What was even worse was that Mordecai wasn't here to wait with me until it was my turn. He could stay with me up until a certain point, but right now I was on my own and my nerves were getting the better of me. I just wanted to get this over with, but I knew I needed to be good.

_"Nova, are you there?"_

I looked down at my ECHO. What the... Lilith? What was Lilith calling me about? Now was really not the time, but I was kind of glad she did call. At least that meant I wasn't all on my own, surrounded by all those people with their high-tech rifles. I clicked on the message to answer.

"Hey, Lil. I'm there, but I gotta go soon. What's up?"

_"We found her. We found Athena."_ Lilith answered.

"That's great news. Are you questioning her?"

_"Not right now. We'll have to capture her and it looks like a job for all of you. For now we're just watching her, trying to figure out a plan for when you guys come back. How are you doing?"_

"Well, I think I'm actually up next, so I can't really talk right now. I'm so nervous, Lil, I swear, I'm glad you echoed."

_"Alright, you got this, girl! You can do it."_

"Thanks, Lil."

I wished I had that sort of confidence in myself. But I didn't. I was a mess. This morning I was pretty calm - I sorted all my dreadlocks, put them into a neat braid, so they wouldn't get in the way, put on some new cargo pants and a clean tank top, got my rifle ready. I did all those little things and I was calm and I was looking forward to this. But now I just wanted to run off.

"Miss Haile, you're up." someone behind me suddenly said. I turned around to see a petite young woman with a data pad in her hand and a headset on her head standing there. She looked pretty overworked.

"Uh... right, thanks." I replied and grabbed my rifle. Okay. Okay. Mordecai had walked me through this. I just needed to go out there and start hitting the targets. 3 shots on each distance, 4 different distances. I could do this.

I took a deep breath and started walking out of the little tent I had been waiting in. My knees felt wobbly. I could see the field with the targets and I quickly walked towards it, trying to ignore the fact that there were a bunch of people sitting around behind me. I took a deep breath again before I got into position.

I tried to focus on what I was doing, but it was just so incredibly difficult. This was all completely new to me. There were some unintelligible sounds coming from a loudspeaker and I could feel the people watching me. But there was something else, somewhat far away. There was a small, familiar caw. Talon.

Hearing that Talon was around actually helped me calm down a little. I looked through my scope and aimed at the target. There was little to no wind, so I chanced in. I breathed in and held my breath as I carefully squeezed the trigger. It was odd to hear the shot only as this distant and faint sound. I wasn't used to it. For a few seconds I wasn't even sure if I had actually shot the rifle.

And of course I missed. I had two shots left, but still. That wasn't good. That was awful. I needed to qualify for the next round, if I wanted to get anywhere. I could miss only two more shots and not get disqualified, so I felt even more nervous after this. I tried not to think about it too much and reloaded my rifle.

A second shot. I took a deep breath in, held my breath and pulled the trigger. This time I hit the target. Barely. Shit, I wished Mordecai was here to tell me to focus and get my shit together. I really missed him, but he had stuff to do himself. He was probably aceing whatever discipline he was doing at the moment.

I reloaded my rifle and aimed at the same target for the last time. This one had to be better. It just had to. I did my usual breathing ritual and pulled the trigger. And it was better. It was pretty good, actually. I smiled down at my rifle and moved on to the next target. This one was further away than the first one, so a bit more difficult to hit. But I had to get it. I had to hit it all three times, otherwise I'd just be average.

And I managed to hit it all three times, but two of those shots just about hit the target, which wasn't too good. I really needed to ace the next distance, because the last one would be really difficult to even hit. Especially now that the wind got a little stronger and the ballistics got way more complicated.

Thankfully I managed to do well for the next three shots. Those three should save me, at least for this round. I'd have to do way better next round if I wanted to get anywhere. I took a deep breath before I repositioned again. This was pretty stressful. Being nervous, all the focussing, knowing people were watching and judging and whatnot. I wasn't used to it at all. I didn't know if I'd ever get used to it.

I heard Talon caw in the distance again, as I got ready for the last three shots. God, I couldn't wait until this was all over and until I could finally sit back and relax again. I shot and hit the target the first two times. But then - I don't know why - I just missed completely. I don't know if I was feeling exhausted or if I was getting too confident or what it was. I sighed and got up.

Guess I had to sit back and hope for the best. At this rate, I might or might not make the qualifications for the second round. I unloaded my rifle and walked back to where I came from. Guess I had to sit with the rest of the people in this contest and wait it out. I just felt really exhausted and kinda numb after this.

"Hey, girl, you did well out there!" I heard someone greeting me as I trotted back into the tent. I looked up and saw Nadia smiling widely at me.

"Thanks. I kinda did shitty. I was nervous." I replied.

"Oh, stop. We're all nervous the first time. Don't worry. I think you got enough points to get into the next round and then you can do better. You got this." she said. I shrugged and smiled a little.

"You wanna go and grab a coffee? I really need one." I replied. She shook her head and pointed towards the exit.

"I'm up soon, I can't really right now. But I think Anouk went to get a coffee, so you'll probably meet her there and can hang out with her until the next round." Nadia answered. I smiled and nodded.

"Cool, I'll head there, so. Good luck out there!"

"Thanks!"

I slung my sniper rifle over my shoulder and walked towards the coffee station. At least they had free coffee here. And it wasn't bad coffee. Not the best I've ever had, but it wasn't terrible. I hesitated for a second before walking over to the coffee machines. It felt weird to just be talking to my fucking daughter, as if she was a good friend. As if she was Lilith or something. It was weird.

But at the same time, I figured it was probably the best I could hope for. I bet few people were exactly friends with any of their parents. Or maybe that was just me. Anyways, now there was no way back. At some point I'd have to reveal the big secret, but today was not the day.

"Hey Anouk." I said, as I casually sauntered over to the coffee machines to get that coffee that I craved so badly.

"Nova, how are you?" she asked.

"Alright, I guess. Kinda screwed up a little out there. Hope I'll make the next round." I replied and took my cup of coffee in my hands. Damn, I just couldn't get enough of that good coffee smell.

"Aw, no. Same here. Kinda screwed up. This is pretty much the biggest thing I've been to, it's kinda making me nervous."

"Yeah, I get you. How many did you miss?" I wanted to know, hoping it would calm me down a little.

"I missed one, but that was only the furthest distance, so I think I should be okay for the next round. I'll have to be better than that next round, though. What about you?" she replied. I took a sip of my coffee.

"Uh... I missed two. The very first one and the very last one. I was really nervous and I'm not used to wearing the hearing protection thingies and being watched... I don't know. I hope I'll get through to the next round, I'm usually better than that. I mean, Mordecai made me train A LOT for this." I answered.

"Oh man, having to wait and hope for the best is awful. But you'll be fine, I'm sure. There's not many people left after you and you're not right at the cutoff line. You'll be fine." Anouk said.

"Really? How many are left?"

"I dunno. Five or so? Not that many. Nadia is left, she's usually really good, but she's had some trouble focusing lately. I hope she makes it."

"You guys been friends for long?"

"Yeah, I think we've been friends, since... maybe since I was four or five? Just before we both started school. Been friends ever since, which was good, because I wasn't the best at making friends at school. But Nadia made up for that."

"She sounds like a really good friend. I wish I had a friend like that when I was your age." I replied with a sigh. I really wished I had had a friend like Nadia. Maybe I wouldn't have been such a screw-up then.


	11. Chapter 10 or Golden Boy

_Songs: Smashing Pumpkins - Obscured; Radio Moscow - Sweet Lil Thing_

_"I hear you both did well, girl! How was it? Come on, tell me everything."_

I was lying around on the bed, talking to Lilith and waiting for Mordecai to get back. I had done it. I had done better the second and third round. Much better. Anouk had won the whole thing and I was proud. I was so goddamn proud. Some girl from Artemis had gotten second place and me? I made it to third place. It was a close one, yes, but I had made it to third place.

"Well, Lil, there's not that much to tell, really. I messed up the first round royally. But I did really well the other two rounds. So yeah. Third place." I answered. I could hear Lilith scoff at the other end.

_"Oh, come on! I am so proud of you. Are you not proud of yourself?" _she asked. I giggled excitedly.

"Hell yeah, I'm proud! I'm really fucking proud of myself! I think we got a good chunk of cash with that. And with Mordecai winning, too! I've got a good feeling about this, Lil." I answered. I was happy, but I was also really exhausted.

_"So how did you mess up the first round? What happened?"_

"I don't know. I was just nervous, I guess. Not really used to the whole competition shebang. They give you hearing protection, it was so weird. And it's strange to know that you have people watching you. Not having moving targets is weird. Most things about these competitions are just really weird, you know? So yeah. I kinda screwed up the first round, because it was all new and weird."

_"Yeah, sounds weird as hell. So, how'd your daughter do?"_

"Oh my God, Lil, I'm so, so proud of her! She won! She got first place! It was pretty cool, you know. I mean, I still didn't tell her, but-"

_"You still didn't tell her? Nova, get yourself together and say something to her! You won't get anywhere with that kinda attitude."_

"Well, I got this far, didn't I?"

_"Nova! Seriously?"_

"What? Stop pressuring me. You don't know what it's like, it's not that easy. Relax. I just met her like... a week ago. I've made up my mind and I will tell her, just not yet. Okay?" I said to her, hoping she'd change the topic.

_"Fine, fine, fine. You're only hurting yourself, but that's not my problem. How's Mordecai doing?"_ Lilith wanted to know. Thank God, she changed the topic. I don't think I could have gone much longer without getting mad at her.

"He's doing good. I think. Sleeping a lot whenever we're not out doing something. Gulping down insane amounts of soda. Actually, we met his mother the other day, so I'm not really sure how he feels about that, but he seems to be doing alright. He didn't really talk much about it after we left."

I heard some weird gurgling noise on Lilith's end and then she started coughing violently. Did she choke on her drink?

_"Excuse me, but what? You met Mordy's MUM? How... What... How did this happen? And how is he not talking to you about it? Are you sure he's okay?"_

"No, I'm not sure, but you know what he's like. If you're being pushy about something, you won't get anything out of him. You just gotta wait until he starts talking himself and that usually takes a while."

_"Fair enough. But how... I thought his parents were God knows where?"_

"Okay, long story, but the short version is: I want to see where he grew up, so we go there. Random girl on the street gets into the crossfire of a shooting, we bring her home like the good people we are and wait with her until someone else comes home. Next person that comes home is the landlady, and it turns out the landlady is Mordy's mum, who came back to Artemis, because she thought he was still there. She bought her old house back and is renting it out to three other girls now."

_"Sounds wild, but I've heard wilder stories. Okay, so what happened then? She comes home and you just stand around in her house?"_

"Basically. I mean, she barely noticed us at first, cause one of her girls got shot. And then she was giving out to Mordy, because he never told her he was okay or anything. Poor woman, she must have been pretty shocked to suddenly see him again, like... 25 years later."

_"Damn. But... they do get along now? Or what's the story?"_

"Yeah, we stayed for dinner and all. Mordy was close-ish to his mother, but not to his father. His dad isn't alive anymore, she said."

_"Shit. How'd he take that?"_

"Surprisingly well, I'd say. Anyways, I think he's just getting back. I can hear some noise from the door. Must be him. Or Anouk asking me to hang out or something." I said and sat up, listening a little closer. I heard the door open. Must be Mordecai so, because there was no way for anyone else to get inside.

_"Cool, talk to you later then. Say hi to Mordy from me."_

"Will do. Talk to you later."

I turned off my ECHO device and got up to walk downstairs. I saw Mordecai standing in the doorway and smiling at me. He had a bag in his hands that I hadn't seen before. And he kind of looked like he was up to something.

"Hey, how are you doing? I hear you got a shiny new gold medal." I said, as I walked up to him to hug him.

"I hear you got a shiny new bronze medal." he replied.

"Yeah, that's right. I got my own shiny medal." I answered and grinned proudly, stepping back a little to have a look at the bag in Mordecai's hands.

"You did really well, I'm proud of you." he said, which made me smile again. I don't think in all my life I was ever at a point when so many people had told me how proud they were of me. And when I had that much constant support. You don't really realize how much that can make you grow as a person until you actually experience it.

"Thanks. I kinda messed up the first round, though." I answered. He shook his head, laughing.

"It's okay. I know how nervous you can be. I thought you'd mess it up more the first time, to be honest. I was way worse at my first competition. But I was only... 15 or something." Mordecai replied.

"Well, you're just too good at what you're doing for normal people to keep up, golden boy." I said.

"Oh God, please don't call me that in front of people."

"I won't. Or I might. Who knows. What's in the bag?" I wanted to know. Mordecai just shrugged.

"Just some stuff I wanna take back home."

"Thought we were getting that later today? What is it?"

"Oh, just some stuff that's difficult to find on Pandora." Mordecai said and put the bag down. I raised an eyebrow.

"Mordy, did you buy a shitload of soda cans?" I asked.

"Maybe."

"Why would you be so secretive about that?" I wanted to know and laughed. Mordecai just grinned and shrugged again.

"I dunno, maybe because I knew it would annoy you. Anyways, are you ready to meet up with Gaige and Axton later? They said something about having found Aurelia." he replied. I nodded.

"Yeah. Also, we need to go to that other thing later, so we can find a squad. Maybe we can smuggle Gaige and Axton in somehow. I mean, Aurelia should be there as well, right?" I suggested.

"Yeah, sounds about right. Let's go then or we'll be late."

"Are Gaige and Axton waiting for us?"

"They should be."

I followed Mordecai out of the door and down the stairs towards the Fast Travel station. Maybe we would have a little bit of time to get some souvenirs. I needed to find something for Lilith and Scooter, because they had specifically asked for stuff, but I kind of wanted to bring back something for everyone.

There was an unusual amount of people just out and about today. They were probably getting ready for that party tonight. It would make it easier to find a squad for sure, but then I've been thinking about asking Nadia and Anouk. Maybe if there were some other nice people we could ask them, too. I had no idea how many people were allowed to be in a squad.

"Hey, are you planning to see your mum again?" I asked. It was a little out of the blue, but I was wondering whether we'd go back there. I kinda felt like spending some more time with her.

"Maybe. I don't know. If there's time, then yes. Why not. If you'd like to." he answered while putting the Fast Travel code into the system.

"Yeah, I think it might be nice. The poor woman hasn't seen you in years, Mordecai. She'll be happy to see more of you."

"Sure. I mean, you can also visit on your own, just be careful, okay? Be really, really careful. You've got less disciplines than me, so you'll have some more free time. When's your next competition?"

"I've got the Precision one tomorrow and another Long Range one the day after that. And then there's the squad thing and the team competition, but that's at the very end. Might hang out with Gaige and Axton for a while, when I'm done." I replied. Mordecai nodded and initiated the Fast Travel.

I started feeling dizzy as everything dissolved and went black for a second. Then I opened my eyes again and things still felt a little odd, but everything was in place again. It still felt like it was spinning a little, but only for a few seconds. Maybe I should have eaten before fast travelling.

"You alright?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, just... just Fast Travel. I'll be fine in a second." I replied and looked around me. It was like we were in a completely different part of Artemis. It was much colder here and there were lots of pine trees all around us. I could make out a few small wooden houses. They looked really cosy and neat.

"Why did they wanna meet up here? Where even are we?" I wanted to know while rubbing my arms. Why didn't they tell us it'd be freezing?

"This is way further north. I figured just so Aurelia won't be able to accidentally see us and get suspicious? I don't know. Maybe they found her up here, that could be it, too. Anyways, this is very far north. Should have told you to bring a scarf or something, sorry." Mordecai explained while he unwrapped one if his scarves and handed it to me.

"Thanks, it's okay. Hopefully they won't have groundbreaking news for us, so we can leave again soon." I answered as we were walking towards the small settlement. The houses looked really nice. I could have imagined settling down in one of those places, staying in when it was too cold, a nice fire in the fireplace. Sounded pretty neat. But on the other hand I was very used to warm weather and going swimming whenever I felt like it. So maybe this wouldn't have been the place for me.

"Can you see them anywhere?" Mordecai asked. I squinted and saw Gaige standing at some sort of sign, fiddling with her robot arm while Axton was chatting to someone walking around. They were probably being suspicious just standing around there. I mean, they were strangers, after all.

"Over there, by the sign. And Axton is talking to that man there." I said and pointed them out to Mordecai.

"I better go and save Axton. The villages here are really close-knit communities. People up north know who lives in the village and who's a stranger, and they're really suspicious of strangers." Mordecai replied and walked over to Axton. I made my way to the sign Gaige was leaning on.

"Hey, Gaige. What's up?" I shouted while I approached her. She looked up and smiled at me, waving me over to her.

"Hey, Nova. Heard about you being a badass at that competition today. I think people seem a little excited about the fact that you're a total newbie and just won something the first time you tried." she said with a grin on her face.

"I mean, I would have sucked at this without Mordy torturing me with practice every single day." I replied and shrugged.

"Yeah, well, there are some people that have their suspicions. Especially cause Mordy trained you."

"Ah, damn. I think that's what happened when Mordy got the bounty on his head that forced him to leave. People wanted him disqualified and then things got ugly. I'm just gonna have to try and ignore them, I suppose. Or we'll all be kicked off the planet." I replied with a sigh. It was then that Mordecai and Axton joined us.

"Hey, Nova. Congratulations to you, too. I just said to Mordecai, you guys are going to ace this thing and then people will think Pandora is an awesome place to learn shooting." Axton said.

"Well, it kinda is." I answered.

"Only if you're lucky enough to survive the first few weeks." Gaige added.

"Y'all are just amateurs." Mordecai replied with a smug grin.

"Oh, shut up, golden boy." I said, grinning back at him.

"Alright, alright. So, guys, what's the update on Aurelia?" Mordecai asked, looking at Gaige and Axton.

"Well, the update is that we found her. We just aren't really sure how to get to her. She's staying at a very high end resort with loads of security. She has a driver that gets her from her competitions to her resort. It's almost impossible to get a hold of her when she isn't being watched by a small army." Gaige explained.

"We might have just the thing for you then." I replied.

"What do you have for us?" Axton wanted to know.

"There is some sort of small party this evening. I'd say most of the participants will be there, since they usually form the squads for the sniping squad at this event. So if we manage to sneak you in, you might be able to get a hold of her. Or to find out how to get to her. Maybe you can see if there is any way for you to get into the resort without anyone else noticing." Mordecai answered.

"And how do we get in?" Axton asked.

"Actually, we might know just the right person." I said, smiling smugly, as I thought back to the girl selling fruit. If anyone knew how to get in, it was her.


	12. Chapter 11 or The Squad

_Songs: Nouvelle Vague - Ever Fallen In Love ; GRiZ - My Friends And I_

"This is really fancy. Wow." I said, as I looked around. The party was basically where we were all living (except for the super rich people who chose different places to stay). They had really made the place look like the backyard of some big mansion. There were people with small snack trays going around and everyone was somewhat dressed up (but not too much to make it look ridiculous).

This was actually the first time ever I had seen Mordecai in a proper shirt. To be fair, it was a very light linen shirt and it wasn't really the black tie kind of fancy, but still. I only had time to throw on one of the dresses I had found on the market the other day. It was long and flowy, white with embroidered red flowers. The embroidery made the dress surprisingly heavy and I really hoped it wouldn't annoy me by the end of the night.

"Yeah, these parties are always over the top. If it wasn't the best opportunity to find a squad I'd never go." Mordecai replied.

"Oh come on! There's free food. And it seems like a fun way to hang out with some other people."

"Yeah, I don't enjoy either of those things."

"You like hanging out with your friends."

"I do, but the people here aren't my friends. All they do is networking, trying to get ahead in whatever company they work for, or trying to save their careers when they get a bit older. It's pretty pathetic."

I looked at him laughing and shaking my head. Mordecai was impossible. Just impossible. Thankfully it wasn't too far from where we were staying, so he could just head home when he felt like it.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. Did you see anyone you know yet? Did you spot Gaige and Axton?" I asked. Mordecai shook his head and then looked down at his ECHO device. He tapped on it a few times and then looked over at a group of staff members with a big grin on his face.

"They're over there with our friend from the market. Blending in in a staff uniform. Not bad." Mordecai said and nodded towards the group. I squinted at them and could make out Gaige's red hair and the hand of her robotic arm. Axton was standing next to her. He could have easily fooled me, since you could really only see their faces and a small bit of their hair. And next to them was our friend from the market.

"Damn. They're doing a really good job with their disguise. I'm impressed. Didn't know she'd be here, as well." I said.

"She gathers information and sells it to the highest bidder. Of course she's gonna be at an event where a bunch of rich people and a bunch of fortune seekers shake hands." Mordecai replied.

"Yeah, that's true, I guess. Okay, any ideas on who we should team up with?" I asked. I looked around me. People were standing in little groups, chatting to each other. With a lot of them you could see how they didn't really want to be here. Or how they didn't really want to talk to the person they were currently talking to.

There was a group that had some Maliwan emblems on their clothes. Most people were affiliated with some sort of corporation. There were quite a few Vladof employees here, a couple of Hyperion ones (we usually tried to avoid them), Maliwan and Jakobs made an appearance here and there. A lot of people were from Dahl and Pangolin, Anshin wasn't as present for some weird reason. I hadn't seen any Torgue or Tediore employees so far, which was a little odd, but then again I never saw a Torgue or Tediore sniper rifle, so I guess it made sense.

"I don't know. I'd try and stay away from the Anshin and Pangolin people, they haven't been really good this year from what I've seen." Mordecai answered.

"Agreed. I was thinking we could maybe team up with Anouk and Nadia? Maybe some other people as well? How many do we need for a squad?"

"It's a minimum of 4 people, maximum of 8. So if we don't find anyone else, we can just ask Nadia and Anouk and be a small squad. But most people will probably get as many people together as they can." Mordecai said.

"Should I see if I can find the girls? And ask them before anyone else does?" I wanted to know. To be honest, I had no idea how to find more people. This kinda setting wasn't new for me, but it just felt wrong at this stage.

"Yeah, sure. See if you can check in with Gaige and Axton and see if they know what they're doing or something."

"Got it."

With that I wandered off into the crowds. With all the people around I had a hard time finding Gaige and Axton among the rest of the waiting staff. They were all dressed in uniforms and all you could really see were their hands and faces. It wasn't easy to identify anyone, unless you got a closer look at them.

"Congratulations on the bronze, Miss Haile. Would you like a drink?" I suddenly heard a voice say behind me. I turned around and looked straight into the face of the girl from the market. Of course.

"Oh, uhm... sure, thanks. Are you looking out for Gaige and Axton?" I asked her as I took a drink from her tray. It was probably pretty expensive stuff and I really didn't want to drink anything in front of Mordecai, but it would look strange if I was just having a conversation with a random waitress, so I had to take it and get rid of it quickly.

"I got them in and that was my job. I'm not a babysitter, only for my roommate Camila." she answered and gave me a courteous smile.

"Camila? You live with Camila and Yolanda?" I replied. I mean, I should have seen it coming, really. But it still came as somewhat of a surprise to me. Her smile dropped a little when I mentioned that.

"How do you know that?" she asked quietly, quickly regaining her composure. I grinned at her. It felt pretty good to be one step ahead of her this time.

"Been at your house. Turns out, Yolanda is his mum. So we'll probably be over a couple more times. Thought you should know in case you try to sell us out." I answered. She smiled at me and this time I could see it was a genuine smile. I suppose I had somehow earned her respect with that.

"I'll keep that in mind." she said and nodded at me before she went on her way again. Okay. So that worked out better than expected. I guess we were friends now or something. Who knew. I didn't even know that girl's name.

Anyways, I needed to go on and look around for Nadia and Anouk or Gaige and Axton. If I was just standing around looking into the distance, it would be really suspicious. I took a big sip from my glass. Thank God this stuff was in the tiniest, fanciest glasses. I could get rid of it really quickly.

"Hey, Nova!" I heard to my left. I turned around, almost choking on my drink, just to see Anouk waving at me. Thank God. At least I wouldn't have to run around completely without a plan anymore.

"Anouk!" I replied and made my way over to her. She reminded me so much of myself when I was younger in this whole fancy party setting, I was tempted to tell her to go home, catch up on some sleep and study for that test.

"How are you? Have you been here for long?" Anouk asked as I approached her. I quickly finished my drink and put the empty glass on one of the standing tables all around us. I kinda felt bad about letting the waiting staff take care of my empty dishes, as if I was somehow better than them.

"Not that long. Only got here about twenty minutes ago. We met up with Gaige and Axton and then kinda had to rush back. Have you been here for long?"

"For about an hour, maybe? I don't know, I like to be here early, even if I'm not really talking to so many people. I mean, apart from all the shaking hands and congratulating and being congratulated and stuff."

"Yeah, well, it's kinda obligatory at this point, but congrats on winning! You did really good, I'm proud of you." I said. I could have shot myself in that moment. Why would I tell a random girl that I was proud of her? It was a slip of the tongue, really, but man, this was an awkward one. Anouk looked a little taken aback and confused, but not in a bad way. Maybe I was lucky again this time.

"Thanks. You did really well, too. I mean, it's your first time, that was pretty neat. You deserved that medal." she replied.

"Thanks. Anyways, you've been here for an hour already? Been talking to many people?" I asked. I was really hoping no one had asked them yet.

"A few here and there. Not too many. Why? Any reason you're asking?"

"Well, there actually is." I answered with a big smile.

"Are you gonna pop the question?"

"I'm gonna pop the question."

"Okay, okay, do it!" Anouk replied and grinned widely. It was a little odd, but this seemed to be a really big deal to everyone, so I just had to go along with all the excitement and glitter and glamour.

"You and Nadia wanna form a squad for the competition with me and Mordy?" I asked. Anouk clapped her hands excitedly.

"Yes! I've been hoping you guys would ask us, because you're both really, really good and you also seem so cool! We'll be the best fucking squad." she said. I grinned and looked around me quickly to see if I could see Gaige or Axton, but nothing.

"Awesome. It's a deal then. You got any ideas if there is anyone else you want to join us?" I wanted to know. We both looked around us for a little while, just scanning the people talking, when a group of young men caught my eye. After watching them for about ten seconds I was sure they were talking about us. They kept glancing over at us and then started laughing and grinning.

"Ugh, those guys are terrible. They're working for Maliwan and they're just absolute douche bags. I've met them before." Anouk told me quietly.

"Really? They talking about us?" I asked.

"Probably." Anouk replied and rolled her eyes when they started approaching us. They had arrogant, smug looks on their faces. God, I hated them already.

"Anouk is making friends with our newcomer. How cute." one of them said.

"From Pandora. I'm surprised you even managed to register. They teach you how to read and write on Pandora or did you get help from someone?" the other one asked me. I really wanted to punch him.

"You'd be surprised, but most people on Pandora can read and write. Probably better than the two of you. Besides, I grew up on Aquator." I replied.

"Aw, from Aquator? Anouk, maybe she knows your mommy!" the first one said. Anouk crossed her arms.

"You done?" was all she said. This was going in a direction I didn't appreciate. At all.

"Yeah, stop being mean to her because her real parents didn't want her." the other guy said. My hand automatically wandered to my hip, but of course I hadn't brought a gun. It was a silly reflex.

"Okay, you two little shitheads, at least Anouk's adoptive parents chose her, while your parents are stuck with you two scumbags. Bet they wished they could swap you for other kids, but unfortunately they can't, because then maybe we wouldn't have to put up with you." I spat. I mean, this was a personal attack against me, even though they didn't know it. Neither did Anouk.

"Jeez, someone's pissed off. Your parents give you away, too?"

"You know what? We'll beat your asses in that squad competition. And then, when all of this is over, we'll kill both of you, because you both are fucking terrorists. We know, you're with the Crimson Raiders, newbie, and we're not even gonna talk about all the terrorist groups little Anouk has supported." the second one said. I don't know why, but that threat really made me feel anxious.

"Whatever, fuck off." Anouk replied as they were leaving. _Murdering your Vault Hunter pals? Destroying that flying city? Hell - that's a start. _Jack's threatening ECHO messages kept repeating themselves in my head. This was bad, this was really bad. I thought I had forgotten about it, but right now it was all coming back.

"You okay?" Anouk asked me and looked at me concerned. I just nodded, trying to get it together again.

"Nova!" I heard an urgent whisper behind us. I turned around and looked into Gaige's face. She smiled, but looked a little worried all the same. Oh no. What had gone wrong?

"Gaige! I've been looking all over for you. How are things going?" I asked her. She just shrugged.

"I don't think they're going too great. We'd been watching Aurelia for a good while, but I think she spotted us. She just left the party, which is really early. Barely been talking to anyone. I'm afraid, we made her suspicious."


	13. Chapter 12 or Eyes And Ears

_Song: __Queen - Killer Queen; The Dead 60s - Riot Radio_

I walked back from the arena trying not to let it show that I was kinda upset I messed up. I was in the second round and I really had messed up royally. I wasn't out completely yet, but by the end of the round I'd probably be disqualified. And for good reason. I had just done really awful.

I don't know why. For some reason last night all the shit with Handsome Jack and Hyperion came back into my head and I could barely get any sleep. All the stuff that had happened just kept rewinding - Mordecai being drunk most of the time, the way he'd get unreasonably angry about some things, some arguments, Lilith living on her own in the wilderness barely surviving, the city almost being destroyed by the mortar attack, the Wildlife Preserve, Bloodwing, Roland, Angel... it all kept coming back to me over and over and over. I was panicking for half the night.

It was ridiculous. Those two guys were literally no threat to me or anyone. Them telling me they'd kill me was like the bandits with their empty threats. It would usually only win them a weary smile from me, but for some reason this had reminded me so much of Jack's constant threats and teasing that I kept getting vivid flashbacks.

"That was pretty bad." someone next to me said. I looked up from the couch that I had just sat down on. It was the girl from the market. Obviously she'd be here. I was scolding myself for not expecting it.

"Yeah, I know. No need to tell me." I replied. She wasn't even looking at me as she was talking to me, probably to keep up her disguise.

"You seem a little shaken up." she stated.

"You could say that. Met some unpleasant people last night, brought back some unpleasant memories and all."

"Unpleasant people? I think I know who you're talking about. I can get them taken care of, if you want. Or I could give you information on them. Keep an eye on them." she said. I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Why are you offering me any of this? You strapped for cash?" I wanted to know. She laughed quietly.

"No. Not at all. They are nuisances, let's put it this way. Plus, you know where I live and who I live with. I'd prefer not to be vulnerable and have you in my debt. So if there's anything I can do for you, just say the word." she replied. Huh. I guess that made sense in a way, but I wasn't sure whether to trust her fully yet.

"What's your name?" I wanted to know. She smiled at me.

"You really think I'd tell you my real name?" she asked. I shrugged.

"I can just ask Yolanda, then."

"Jael. It's Jael. Not sure what you'd want with my name, but there you go." she replied. She seemed pretty nervous.

"Alright, Jael. Good to know what to call you. Actually, there are one or two things you could do for us." I told her.

I didn't want those two obnoxious kids dead, that wasn't it. But I wasn't sure how set they were on carrying out their threat. It might be a good idea to keep a close eye on them and Jael seemed the right person for that. Plus, I hadn't seen Aurelia all day and that was kind of odd. Maybe she just wasn't in this competition, but it seemed a little strange to me either way.

"Alright. I'm all ears." Jael said.

"Those two guys. The ones working for Maliwan. If you can get me some info on them, just general stuff, that would be good. Also, can you watch them for me? They've made some threats and I just wanna know how serious they are about it. Wouldn't like to be surprised by some hired guns, you know what I mean?" I explained. Jael nodded. Okay, so far so good. Now I only needed to explain the Aurelia Hammerlock dilemma.

"The other thing is... you know how you smuggled Gaige and Axton in yesterday? Well, they were there to watch someone and possibly capture them and bring them back to Pandora for a trial. Well, they told me that that person seemed like she was getting suspicious of them and I also haven't seen her all day. So if you could get some info on them and get that info to Gaige and Axton, that would be great." I said.

"Sounds like something I should be able to do. Can't believe they screwed up, though. Who are we talking about?" Jael replied.

"Aurelia Hammerlock."

"Alright. Done. Anything else?"

"No, that's all, I think."

"I'll get it done, don't worry." Jael said and started walking away. I held her back by her arm, hopefully being inconspicuous enough.

"Thanks, Jael. Take care of yourself, alright? Especially with Aurelia." I told her. She gave me a smug smile.

"Don't worry. I've dealt with rich and influential people more than enough. I know how to handle myself." she replied and walked away. I had to admit I admired the girl. She was a total badass, and all, completely without a gun. All she did was blend in in a crowd and know the right people to get information.

_"Hey, Nova. You got time for a small update right now?"_ Gaige's voice came from my ECHO device. I looked around me. Looked like I was pretty much on my own for now.

"Yeah, sure. Shoot."

_"Okay, so we just found out that Aurelia hasn't turned up at any of the competitions she was in. Looks like she got someone to sign her off from everything. We're just trying to find out if she's still on the planet or not."_

"Oh shit. What if she's not?"

_"Well, then we probably have to split up and Axton and I will have to look for her, while you finish this thing with Mordy and get back to Pandora ASAP to get Athena."_

"Sucks big time. What about the designs you've been working on? For my leg?" I asked. If Gaige left now, that meant I'd have to limp around for much longer than I anticipated. I had hoped we could get that done on Elpis just before we got back to Pandora. But it looked like that wouldn't work anymore.

_"Well, I don't know. I mean, I can do it when we get back, right? Or maybe... if you can find someone else to finish them and help Nina with attaching the leg, then I can send them over to your ECHO device?"_ Gaige said.

"Yeah, well... Don't worry about it. Send me the drafts and I'll see if I can find someone to help out. Maybe Anouk can finish the design, since we're apparently besties or something. Thanks for helping out anyways, Gaige, you're a star."

_"No problem. It was fun getting this far. I mean, I can see if I can finish the stuff, maybe Aurelia is still on the planet. But if she isn't, then... yeah, maybe asking Anouk would be a good idea."_

"Asking me what?" I heard a voice in front of me say. I looked up and saw Anouk standing there, a smile on her face and a big cup of coffee in her hand. I gave her a quick smile and gestured for her to wait a second while I finished up with Gaige.

"Yeah, she just got here, so I'll ask her straight away. You guys go back to work, alright? Keep me updated."

_"Will do. Have fun explaining all of that to Lilith later on."_ Gaige replied. I sighed and shook my head. Yeah, explaining all the news to Lil would probably be a pain. I missed talking to her in person, I really did.

"Sounds like some bad news." Anouk commented. I looked over at her and just nodded. That whole conversation had made me pretty tired.

"It might be bad news. We don't know yet." I answered.

"So what can I help you with? What was that about?" she wanted to know. I sighed and then took a deep breath.

"Okay, so you know how I'm limping a little all the time and have some trouble with my leg?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, I've noticed. I just didn't wanna be rude and ask about it." she replied.

"Well. This is why I'm limping." I said and pulled up my cargo pants to reveal my burned foot and leg. It really wasn't a pretty sight.

"Damn, what the hell happened there?" she wanted to know.

"Long story short: When we defeated Handsome Jack, there was a lot of lava, I was running for my life and stepped in a big puddle of lava and burned my foot. Wasn't really able to treat it right away, so it took me a while until a doctor of some sorts could look at it. So yeah, this happened." I told her.

"Okay. So you want me to help how?"

"You're designing weapons for Vladof, aren't you? You're good with mechanical designs and building stuff?" I wanted to know.

"Yeah, sort of. More with the designing part, but I know how to build my designs, too. I'm just not great at it." she said.

"Cool. That's no problem, we should be able to build it together. See, I'm gonna need a robotic leg to replace this mess and I need some help from people. I need it designed, I need help getting the materials, I'm probably going to need some help putting it together and the doctor attaching it will need some help with that as well from someone who knows how cybernetic limbs work."

"Okay, I'm following."

"Yeah. So Gaige has started on the design and all, but she might have to leave the planet and probably won't be able to finish it for ages, which means no leg for a good while on Pandora, and an extra return trip to Elpis. I know it's a lot to ask, but could you help with the design and getting the material? I can pay for it, no problem. That's why I'm here, getting money to pay for my leg."

"Well, technically, that shouldn't be a problem. If you can send me whatever Gaige has already started, I'm sure I can finish that easily. We learned the basics of that in school, so I should be fine. And the materials should be easy enough to get here. But I've gotta get back home after the competition. I can't really do a detour to Elpis, sorry." she said. It broke my heart a little because she looked so genuinely disappointed she couldn't come to Elpis with me.

"Can you guide her over the ECHOnet? I mean I'd have to ask if that's alright with her, but I'd say she should be fine with it." I asked. Anouk looked like she was thinking for a second and then smiled.

"Yeah... yeah, that could work. I mean, I trained a bunch of guerrilla fighters over the ECHOnet once, so this shouldn't be any different. Just different subject matter. Yeah, that might work." she answered.

"Hold up, you trained guerrilla fighters?" I wanted to know. She nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, that's why some people like to call me a terrorist for some reason. There was the uprising on Isolus last year and I was training a squad of the rebel army. I mean, according to the government of Isolus it was terrorism, but the government there was terrible and oppressive. And I didn't wanna be that person that's always preaching about fighting for justice and then does nothing, you know?" she replied and shrugged, almost as if she was a little embarrassed to admit it.

"So you went and trained a squad of guerilla fighters?"

"Yeah... kinda..."

"Damn, girl. I really like your style. I wish I had had a bit of training before we went to take down Jack. The Raiders just got minimal training. Most of us didn't need it, because most used to be Atlas military, so they already had training. But the few people who joined without prior training often struggled to keep up with the people with proper military training. I mean, all the training I ever had was living on Pandora for 15 years."

"Well, I mean, Hyperion still isn't completely defeated. No harm in training people now, I suppose. And it gives them something to do." Anouk said and shrugged. She was right in a way.

"Yeah... true. I might suggest that to Lil. She's taken over now."

_After Roland died._


	14. Chapter 13 or Things Change

_Songs: The Josephines - Fireball; The Kills - Pull A U_

"So yeah. That's how we met. I got locked up because I was being stupid and Mordecai broke me out by accident." I finished telling my story to Yolanda. Mordecai was still not here and his mum had been firing questions at me. Of course, she wanted to know the whole story. What had Mordy done before he came to Pandora, how did we meet, what happened after, every little detail.

I mean, I couldn't even tell her that much. I had only met Mordecai after he had been on Pandora for a while and he never told me much about what he had done before that. Even know, after knowing him for about 6 years I barely knew anything about what his life was like before Pandora.

"And then? I mean, you got out, what happened then?" she asked. Camila's baby came crawling over to me. Yolanda and I were watching her while she was gone to work, and since Yolanda was pretty busy with house work I had to entertain the little guy. I held out my arms, so I could pick him up from the ground.

"Well, I ran off and hid behind some crates to catch some breath and then Mordy holds a gun to my head and asks why he shouldn't kill me. So I was panicking and babbling, until he's happy. So we go and loot the place, but since his car blew up, I gave him a lift and let him stay at my place for the night. And the next morning I dropped him off at the Fast Travel station after Bloodwing almost ate me for breakfast." I explained quickly. Yolanda shook her head.

"God, sometimes I wonder who raised that boy. I mean, yeah, I did. But... well... only until we had to leave. And his father wasn't a good person. I wish I could have left, but I had no money and no family or friends here on Artemis to go to." she answered. I lifted Camila's boy into the air, which made him giggle. I mostly did it, because I had no idea how to respond to any of that.

"But anyways. That's all over now. You said you were with the Crimson Raiders on Pandora?" Yolanda said next. I smiled at her and nodded, secretly relieved she changed the topic.

"Yeah, we were. Well, we still are. Mordecai's friends actually first established the Raiders and I just joined pretty soon." I explained. Yolanda looked like I had told her a bad joke just there.

"Mordecai has friends?" she asked, sounding like she didn't believe a single word I had just said.

"He does. There's actually... quite a lot of them." I answered. I mean, yeah, Mordecai was always kind of the loner type, but it wasn't like he was a terrible person who never talked to anyone.

"Sorry, it's just... he never had any friends. Not like... long term friends. I was really worried he'd end up with no friends at all when he grew up, but I guess... I guess he's going well for himself."

"Yeah, I mean... there's Brick and Brick and Mordy are just like... best friends. It's really cute. They get each other little gifts and there's this kid we took in and Mordy and Brick are just like her parents. It's really sweet, you should see them. And there's Lilith, she's my best friend at this point. The two of them are always bickering like siblings, but Mordy helped her a lot when her boyfriend got killed. That was a rough time. There's Talon, of course. There is Tina, the kid we all took in. She's crazy and Mordecai always says how annoying she is, but he really just loves her to bits."

"Woah, woah, woah. Mordecai took in _a child_?"

"Yeah." I said, a little confused why that seemed to be such a big deal for her. I knew he wasn't exactly the type for this sort of thing, but still.

"God, I remember when he had to take care of his younger brother. He'd hate it. He'd hate it so much, he'd complain about it for ages. Of course, he's all grown up now, but all I can remember is what he was like when he was 14. And now he's 39. It's just difficult to come to terms with, you know?" she said with a melancholic smile.

"I think I know exactly what you mean." I replied. And I did. It was the same for me and Anouk. The last time I'd seen her she was a month old. And now she was 18 and all grown up and her own person. It was the weirdest thing in the world.

"So what about you? How did you get to Pandora?" Yolanda asked with a smile. I sighed and got ready to tell the story again.

"I was born on Aquator, kind of lower middle class. My parents were working in the resorts and I turned out to be the kind of kid that was out partying all night, drinking, smoking, taking drugs, you name it, I probably did it. Got pregnant when I was 15, had the baby at 16. My parents were obviously furious and made me give her up for adoption. So yeah, that was pretty traumatizing for me. Plus, I was always at odds with my parents over everything. So yeah. I moved out when I was 18 and stripped for about 3 months until I had enough cash to get off the planet. My options were Promethea or Pandora, so I chose Pandora. One hell of a mistake, but I'm glad I went there."

"Damn. That's one hell of a story. So you got to Pandora and then what? How did you not die?" Yolanda asked.

"I was lucky. Some people found me. Took me in. Took good care of me and taught me how to shoot guns and what I could and couldn't eat. After a while I separated from them and went to a place called the Middle of Nowhere. Opened up a diner and hostel kind of thing. At the time, there were loads of transports coming through, so it worked out fine for me. When everyone left the planet, I did contract kills, repairs and explosives. And that's how I ended up with your son."

It was only then that I realized how bad all of that sounded. And I was telling that to my (basically) mother-in-law.

"Just for the record, I'm not proud of it. Well, a little maybe. But not too proud." I added, hoping that would make it sound a little better.

"Don't worry, we all sometimes gotta do things we're not proud of. That's life. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." she replied.

"Shit, that's what I always say." I said, a big grin on my face. That's when we heard a knock on the door. That was Mordecai. We were planning to meet up at the house, so Yolanda could run some errands with us.

"Ah, that must be Mordy. Do you wanna take the little boy?" she asked me. I nodded and put him down on the ground, so I could get the baby sling. I quickly wrapped it, so I could carry him around with me easily. Then I opened the door for Mordecai, while Yolanda gathered up all her things.

"Hey, Mordy. How'd you do?" I asked. He gave me a kinda weak looking smile. He looked pretty exhausted.

"Second. Pretty good money in it, still. How are you, querida?" he asked me.

"I'm good. I just told your mum both our life stories. She couldn't believe you weren't a 14 year old anymore." I told him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head smiling, before he gave me a small kiss.

"She's probably gonna interrogate me again, once we leave the house." Mordecai said and laughed.

"I'm ready!" Yolanda shouted from another room and came walking to the main room quickly. She had a small bag slung over her shoulder and was wearing some sandals that looked like they'd fall apart any second.

"Alright, let's go then, mamá." Mordecai said and held the door open for her. She quickly slipped out and locked the door behind her.

"So, I hear the two of you are friends with Jael, as well?" Yolanda said while she was locking the door.

"Who's Jael?" Mordecai asked.

"The girl from the market." I answered.

"How do you know her name?"

"I asked her."

"And she told you?"

"Well, obviously."

"Jeez, what's the deal with her and the two of you? She seemed really nervous when she told me about you. And now you act like you barely even know her?" Yolanda interrupted. I looked at Mordecai, a little confused. Did... did Yolanda not know how Jael paid the rent? Didn't she know she sold information?

"We only met her at the market one time. We... we had an interesting conversation." Mordecai answered.

"Yeah, Jael can be quite the character. I met her again at the competition and had a little chat with her, that's how I know her name." I answered. It seemed like Yolanda was completely oblivious. Or maybe she did know and was in on the inconspicuous appearance thing.

To be honest, from talking to her, I would almost suspect that she knew exactly what was going on and was in on everything. Maybe Jael mentioned us to her and she said something about Mordecai being her son? Maybe that's why Jael was being so helpful? Who knew. Maybe she just didn't know what was going on at all.

And it didn't really matter much, because the next thing that happened was that there was a bunch of guys surrounding us, firing their guns at us. I was lucky that neither I nor the baby got hit, because I was standing just behind some small box, probably for electricity or something, so I could hide quickly.

After the initial shots were fired, everything was quiet for a while. I carefully looked up, gun in my hands and ready to fire. Everyone was standing around, pointing their guns at each other. Yolanda had her hands up in the air, I had my gun pointed at the guy directly in front of me, and Mordecai had his gun pointed at the guy in front of him. There were two more guys aiming at Yolanda and Mordecai. No one was talking and it was a pretty weird situation, but we were pretty clearly outnumbered.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" I shouted.

"Camila still owes us that money. She hasn't paid up this month." one of the guys answered us. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Yolanda.

"Look, she probably just forgot that there was a payment due. No point killing anyone over this. Please." she said.

"Well, you pay or we take the money off you. If we have to kill all of you for that, then so be it." the same guy said. Seemed to be their leader.

"Listen up, you little shit. You leave my mother alone. And you leave anyone who lives in her house alone. Understand?" Mordecai growled at them. They exchanged looks, then their leader grinned widely.

"So you're Mordecai, huh? Legendary sniper? Guy who had a bounty on his head for 25 years? At least that's who you're claiming to be." he said.

"That's me." Mordecai answered.

"Oh yeah? Prove it. I don't believe you."

"I wouldn't do it, if I were you." I interrupted them. I really just didn't want this to end in a shoot-out. I knew Mordecai could handle himself, but I was still scared he'd get hurt or die in this.

"And who are you, huh? 'Nother one of Yolanda's girls?" their leader asked me. I shook my head.

"Oh wait. I know you. You're the newbie. Mordecai's little girlfriend. From Pandora. You won bronze a few days ago, but you really screwed up yesterday." another guy said. I held up my arms quickly and gave them a smug smile.

"That's me, alright. You know what I learned on Pandora? I do better with moving targets." I replied.

"Well, I don't care who you are. You either pay up or we solve this problem right here, right now. What's it gonna be?" the leader asked. I looked over to Mordecai. He nodded at me slightly.

I smiled and quickly pulled my trigger on the guy in front of me. I aimed at the guy aiming at Yolanda next and took him out before he even knew what was happening. Then I turned to Mordecai. The leader of the group and the other guy aiming at him were down at the ground, coughing up blood. He had managed to take both of them out quickly enough. They were barely alive at that stage. Mordecai bent down to the leader and pulled his head up by his hair.

"Next time, you don't doubt me." he said and let his head fall to the ground. He got up and looked back at Yolanda. She seemed pretty badly shaken.

"Come on, mum. Let's get out of here." Mordecai said to her. She nodded and followed the two of us, as we stepped over the corpses we had left behind.

"God, I thought we'd all die. I had some money with me, I could have paid." she kept mumbling.

"Who were these guys, Mordy?" I asked, as I put away my gun.

"Some gang, Camila's husband probably got in trouble with them and that's why they killed him. They're little pests, that's all they are. Almost like the damn bandit clans back on Pandora." he said.


	15. Chapter 14 or Past Affairs

_Song: Daryl Hall & John Oates - Maneater; Martin Solveig, Good Times Ahead - Intoxicated_

It was only during the team competition that I realized how big this whole thing actually was. There were a ton of people around and the arena was huge this time. It was pretty insane, the sheer amount of people that were here.

I saw Jayna again who I hadn't met since we stepped off the shuttle. There were Anouk and Nadia and the two Maliwan guys. Of course Jael was around as well, scouting out the place. There were quite a few people that I vaguely remembered from Aquator, either as people who often went there for holidays or as people I used to go to school with or hang out with. It was insane how many familiar faces there were.

I think I started getting a bit of an idea of what it was like for Mordecai to come back home. He was out there stopping every few metres, shaking some hands and making some small talk, but honestly? A lot of people were just being arrogant and condescending. It felt a bit like a class reunion.

"Holy shit! Is that Nova? Nova Haile?" I heard someone say next to me. I turned to see a group of older men standing around, some of them getting their rifles ready, others just watching them and relaxing.

"That's me alright." I answered, trying to remember who that guy that just called me was. I had some vague memories of seeing him a lot for a while back on Aquator. Who the hell was he again...?

"Didn't think I'd see you here. What are you doing here of all places?" he asked me. I smiled sweetly, still trying to figure out why I knew him.

"I'm shooting. What are you doing here?" I replied. Okay, I think I remembered that I definitely knew him just before I left for Pandora. Means I probably met him either when I was about to leave home or when I was stripping to get the rest of my money for Pandora together. Fuck.

"Shooting? As in, the competition?" he wanted to know, looking pretty dumbfounded. I shrugged.

"Yeah."

"Well, damn. Didn't take you for a shooter. But then again I haven't seen you for... God... must be over 10 years now..."

"Well, 15 at least, because that's how long ago I left Aquator." I answered, grinning. I think I started remembering who that guy was. He used to come to the place I worked at A LOT and he gave really good tips. This guy probably paid most of my ticket to Pandora. And of course he wouldn't expect me to be a sharpshooter. Hell, all he knew me as was probably a stripper.

"Damn, that long ago? Time flies, doesn't it?" he said and his friends laughed. I smiled and gave Mordecai an apologetic look.

"I guess, it does. So what are you doing here? You never answered that." I asked and realised how easy it was to slip back into that old sweet stripper voice. Ugh. Why was I like this?

"Oh, I'm just here as a sponsor for this guy. He's studying at the university of Eden-4, but is originally from Themis, like me. He's teaming up with his older brother. Kid's got a bright future ahead of him." he answered.

"I see. Sounds cool." I replied, getting ready to leave and keep going. But apparently that wasn't his plan.

"Who are you teaming up with? Some of the other people from Aquator?"

"No, that would be me." Mordecai chimed in and nodded at the guy I was talking to. I gave him a small smile.

"Oh, right. You won a good few disciplines, didn't you? What was your name again?" the guy asked.

"Mordecai. We're here from Pandora." Mordecai replied. Ah shit. He had noticed the way my voice changed. I should have known, after all he was with Moxxi. I didn't even mean to put on the hooker voice again, it was just an old habit of sorts.

"Pandora? Shit, Nova, that's where you went? Should've been stripping for a little longer to afford going to a proper place."

"Pandora is fine. You get used to it. I actually really like it, so... Yeah. We better get going and get ready." I said, taking Mordecai's hand and slowly walking away with the best smile I could fake.

"Well, if you change your mind or want to make some extra cash... I'm staying at the Orchid." he shouted after me with a wink.

"No, thanks!" I replied, smiled at him and waved, before turning around. I looked at Mordecai, rolled my eyes and made a gagging sound. We laughed quietly as we made our way through the crowds.

"What the hell was that? Who was that guy?" Mordecai asked. I shrugged.

"I dunno. Some guy. Don't remember too much about him, just that he used to come and visit me a whole lot when I was stripping. Tipped really well. I dunno what his deal is now, though. I mean, I'm sure he's as much of an asshole as most of the other guys that I knew... you know... back then." I said.

"Yeah, I figured you knew him from then."

"Ah shit, what gave it away?"

"The voice."

"Fuck. Yeah, I don't even know, it was just a reflex that I put on the voice. Like something in my brain just clicked and I was in hooker mode." I answered and laughed to myself. It was wild that it still worked after such a long time.

"Well, Moxxi always said once you got it mastered, it stays for life." Mordecai replied and shook his head laughing.

"Yeah, she's a smart one." I replied.

"She is. You up for some adventuring tomorrow?" Mordecai wanted to know. I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Adventuring? Mordy, the squad competition is in a week and we have to train with Nadia and Anouk, so we all know what we're doing out there." I said.

"Isn't it good I found out what kind of terrain we'll be in and I know the perfect place to do some training then? We could all stay out there for half the week, then relax and train more back at our place. What do you think?"

It sounded like a really good idea. Especially since Mordecai knew exactly how much I wanted to see a little more of the planet. And if I knew him at all, he had already asked the girls and this thing was on anyway. Before I could answer someone else started shouting at us.

"Oh shit, man, look who it is!"

Mordecai and I turned around to see a mixed group this time. They all seemed to be around Mordecai's age and only one or two faces looked somewhat familiar to me. They must have meant Mordy and not me. Glancing over at him, I figured I was right, because he looked beyond annoyed.

"It's our little sewer rat!" another guy from the group exclaimed, as they approached us. The fuck were they on about?

"Long time no see, Mordo. We all thought you'd follow your old man into an early grave."

"And I thought you had grown up since the last time I've seen you." Mordecai replied. I wondered how they knew each other. I kinda doubted they were the best of friends back in the day. The second guy looked strangely familiar again. Probably was on holidays on Aquator with his rich parents or something.

"Didn't think you'd ever set foot on Artemis again. I mean, no one wants you and your kind here. And who's the slut with you?" the first guy asked.

"Yeah. Hey, listen, girl, how much did he pay you? 20? Doubt he'd have much more than that." the other one chimed in.

"Yeah, whatever. You, small guy, do I know you from somewhere. Your face looks familiar. Ever been to Aquator?" I asked. I couldn't be bothered with whatever personal shit they had going on, but it really annoyed me that I had all these vague memories without really knowing who all those people were.

"Uh... yeah... what's it matter to you?" he responded. And then it clicked and I burst into laughter. I remembered that guy. One evening he had bought me drinks all night, but I ended up going home with his dad, because his dad was where the cash was at. Back then I had felt a little sorry for him, but seems like he deserved it after all.

"She a nutcase or something?" the first guy asked, while I was still laughing at the memory. I felt bad back then, but now I was glad I was such a terribly selfish person.

"How about you say hi to your dad from me? Nova from Aquator, he'll know who I am." I said. The guy blushed. He definitely remembered.

"What... what would my father have to do with you?" he replied, but I knew he was just pretending now. This was pretty funny.

"Don't act like you don't know me. You spent your entire holiday funds on me. Drinks, fancy dinners, clothes and whatnot. Shit, and you never had a chance. I used to feel kinda bad about it, but hell, not anymore." I said.

"Oh damn, she's burning you." one of the girls standing around them said. The first guy raised his eyebrow at the whole situation and looked back at me.

"Hey, you sound pretty fun. Why don't you ditch the loser and hang with us, huh?" he asked me. I glanced over at Mordecai who looked pretty annoyed at this stage.

"Oh, sweetie, you still have a lot to learn. Firstly, Mordecai is way more fun than all of you together. Secondly, I'm not... in that line of work anymore. Sorry, sweetheart. And last, but not least, even if I was, there'd be no way you could afford me. See you in the arena." I replied and took Mordecai's arm, dragging him away from those shitheads, before his temper got the better of him.

"With how many of the people who are here today have you slept?" he wanted to know quietly, as we walked away. I shrugged.

"No idea. Probably a lot of them. I mean, you said it yourself. A lot of those people are gonna be rich assholes and pretty much every rich asshole in this world has been to Aquator at some stage. And if they were at any point 15 years ago or earlier, I probably met them. Or either of their parents." I said.

"Okay, I knew you had some wild teenage years, but... shit. That's a lot. The hell did you do with all that money?"

"Well... I bought drugs and fancy clothes and treated myself. And later on it went towards my moving out fund. I used to have a really... lavish lifestyle back home. Like rich people lavish. But I wasn't rich, I just slept with a lot of people."

"Holy shit."

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm just... trying to wrap my head around this."

"Well, you killed people for money and I slept with people for money. You're not really in a position to question my morals. Also, I was young and dumb and thought I knew it all."

"I know, I know, I'm not saying anything... Am I really more fun than all of them?" Mordecai asked, a small smug grin forming on his face.

"Of course you are! Look, all these guys were fun for between 2 minutes and an hour. There was no meaning, no feelings, no nothing. You... I mean, we've been together for about six years. You're not just a boyfriend or whatever. You're my best friend, Mordecai. I'd trust you with my fucking life. And all of that is much, much better than whatever I had with any of those guys 15 years ago."

"Awww. That's cute." Mordecai replied. I laughed and punched his upper arm.

"Yo, fuck you, I'm baring my heart to you here and all you say is _that's cute_?" I said jokingly and shook my head.

"Fine, fine, fine. Love you, too. Happy?"

"Very happy. Now, who were those guys anyway? What was your beef with them?" I wanted to know. Mordecai sighed.

"They used to go to school with me. You know how I'd regularly get beaten up? Yeah, that was them. But it doesn't matter anyways. Fuck them." he replied.

"Yeah, fuck them. They were being total douchebags out there."

"Yeah, that's just how they've always been. I wasn't too keen on seeing them again, but I hoped I might not meet them. So that didn't work out too well. But it doesn't matter. Let's focus on the competition."

"Yeah, let's show these assholes."


	16. Chapter 15 or Time For The Truth

_Songs: The Kills - Echo Home; Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)_

I was lying back on the wooden little dock. The sun was shining into my face and I just enjoyed the feeling of warmth. It had been a good while since I actually felt warmed to my very bones. If this place was what the squad competition would be like, then it would be amazing no matter if we'd win or not.

We had started out in a nice forest and had been wandering up a mountain until we got to this nice little mountain lake, which is where we finished our little training expedition. It was a beautiful day, warm, but not too hot. My feet were dangling in the clear, cold water, while Talon was screaming in the air above us.

"We're gonna win this thing." Anouk said. She was lying next to me on the dock, just enjoying the sun.

"Hell yeah." I replied. That was when I heard my ECHO device beeping. I gave the damned thing an angry glance and hoped it would just stop by itself, but unfortunately whoever was calling me wasn't that gracious.

"For fuck's sake." I moaned and slowly sat up. Anouk just laughed quietly and continued slurping her drink, whatever it was.

"Yeah?" I asked.

_"Hey, Nova. It's me, Gaige. You got a minute?"_

"Oh, hey Gaige. Sure. What is it? Any news on Aurelia?" I wanted to know. Gaige sounded pretty serious, so something had to be up.

_"Yeah. We knew for a few days she had left the planet, but Jael has finally found out where she was headed. She's going to Epitah."_

"Epitah? Where the fuck is that?"

_"It's pretty far away. Apparently there's a Vault on that planet, too. I mean, it's like those things are all over the place. But anyways, Aurelia is headed there. No idea why. No idea what kinda planet it's gonna be. But we got passage on a cargo ship. We're leaving Artemis in two days."_

"Aww, really? We're only gonna be back this evening. Will we have time to properly say goodbye?" I asked. I kinda knew this was coming at some stage, when Aurelia had suddenly disappeared, but it was still kind of soon. I kinda wished I had spent some more time with Axton and Gaige while we were still here.

But then again, the time just seemed to fly. There were so many new people I had met here. It was like I was leaving Pandora all over again. The thought of leaving in a week and a half made me feel physically ill, that's how used I got to this place. I mean, yeah, there was a bunch of asshats living here and there were a lot of things that just weren't great, but when I thought of leaving it all just didn't seem that bad anymore.

_"Yeah, I hope so. We can meet up tomorrow or this evening if you want. I wish we could have just gotten her while she was here and then we could have all chilled for a while, before going back to Pandora, but to hell with it. A new planet it is."_ Gaige answered, sounding a little bummed out about leaving as well.

"You okay with going with Axton? Did you talk to Lil already?"

_"Yeah, it's all gonna be fine. And I talked to Lil, she's fully updated and knows what's happening. Just wanted to let you know. So we can say bye and all. I hope it won't be long until we're back on Pandora, though. Maybe we're even gonna be faster than you guys!"_ Gaige said and laughed a little.

_"Bullshit, the trip to Epitah alone is gonna take us at least a month."_ Axton commented in the background.

"Aw man, sounds like a real bummer. Don't sneak into any engine rooms again, because this time we're not here to bail you out, okay?" I replied.

_"Yeah, not doing that again. It was fun, but once is enough, I guess. Anyways, let me know when you guys are back and we can go and do something before we leave. Sound good?"_ Gaige asked.

"Sure thing, I'll hit you up. Talk to you later."

_"Yup, later."_

With a sigh I disconnected and turned off the ECHO. I took a deep breath and looked out over the water. I wondered if the water was warm enough to swim in. It probably wasn't and I felt a little too tired to try it. But after walking and sneaking around all day it felt good to have my feet in some cold water.

"Where's Mordecai?" Anouk asked me all of a sudden. I shrugged.

"I think he wanted to go and shoot some more stuff. Probably just hanging out with Talon, though. Why?"

"I dunno, just wondering. Sounds like you're gonna miss Gaige, huh?"

"Yeah, I am. I mean, the poor kid's been through a lot. She should have some time off, like she really fucking deserves it. But I guess we don't really have that kind of luxury on Pandora." I answered. I was a little taken aback by the small talk, no idea why. Maybe it was because I was always on edge around Anouk, because I was scared I'd say something that would give me away. But then again, I had to tell her at some stage, didn't I? Maybe now was the right time.

"Your parents missing you?" I asked. Anouk shrugged and sat up.

"I suppose so. Don't get me wrong. I love them to bits, but I just... I dunno, I've felt a little distant the last few years, I guess."

"Cause you were adopted?"

"Yeah, I dunno. Maybe. See, you know your parents, you know where you come from, you know your roots. I don't really have any of that. Yeah, I know that I was born on Aquator, but that's pretty much everything. I'm happy where I am, I'm happy with my job and my friends and my parents, but I just feel like something's missing, you know? I can't look at my parents and really see myself in them. And it kinda sucks." she said. I looked at her with a sad smile. She saw me looking and laughed, shaking her head.

"I know, I know. First world problems and all. Maybe I should just focus more on who I am, than where I'm from. It's just difficult sometimes." she added.

"No, no, no, it's fine. I think I know what you mean. You wanna have someone to tell you some wild childhood stories, you wanna know how your biological parents met, if they're still together, what they're doing with their lives, if they're proud of you and all. I get it. What do you know about them?"

"Well... I know more about my mother. She's from Aquator, like you. I have a picture of her, she looks pretty young in it. Maybe like she just turned 18 or something. I think I found some leads to Pandora, but I'm not really sure if that's the right track. It's mostly based on Hyperion data and I'm not sure how trustworthy that is." Anouk explained. I nodded. Shit, how was I going to break it to her? I've been hanging out with this girl for three weeks now and now, when we're all leaving soon, I decide to tell her that I'm her mum? Shit. I really fucked up this time.

"Can I see the picture? Who knows, maybe I've seen her on Pandora or something." I replied after a while.

"Sure, I've got it on my ECHO." Anouk said and quickly searched through the files that were saved to her ECHO device. After a few seconds a holographic picture showed up. It was the same one she showed in the ECHOcast. Oh fuck. It seemed like this was my time to shine. Be the mum I never was or something.

"She looks familiar." I said, after squinting at the picture for a while. I remembered how uncomfortable that dress was and how badly that night ended, so it took me a while to get out of my memories and back on track.

"Really? Are you sure? What do you know about her? Please, tell me anything you can." Anouk replied, looking excited and hopeful. Oh dear God. I was going to fuck this up. I just knew it.

"She's not 18 in that picture. She's 16. Her hair isn't really that straight, she just straightened it. I think she came to Pandora when she was 18 and has lived there ever since. Lived pretty much on her own and isolated for about 10 years. She used to have a diner in a place called the Middle of Nowhere. She made the best fucking coffee on Pandora." I told her, smiling a little. I glanced over at Anouk's face and she seemed completely smitten with the story I was telling her. Maybe this would end well after all.

"She met a good guy about 6 years ago. Had a crush on him for ages, but didn't say anything until a few years ago. Her house was destroyed, because Handsome Jack needed it for his slag dump. Of course she didn't give it up voluntarily. She was sent to the Friendship Gulag and the Raiders helped her get out. She joined them right after that and later on was a spy for them along with the guy I mentioned earlier. The whole stuff happened and she ended up fighting Jack at the very end." I finished my story. Anouk looked at me for a second and then blinked as if she just woke up from a dream.

"Okay, that was a lot of details. How do you know all that? Did you make it all up?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"No, Anouk, I..."

"Because you don't have to. You don't need to tell me some fantastic story just because you feel sorry for me or something. If you don't know her, that's fine. If she died or something, that's fine, too. Just... just tell me the truth."

"Anouk, I'm telling you the truth. I don't think... I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say."

"No, what are you trying to say?"

"It's me, Anouk. I'm the girl in the picture. That's me when I was 16 and had spent two months starving myself, so I'd look thin again after I had you." I said. I didn't dare look at Anouk. I knew I had fucked up. I had fucked up royally. I wouldn't be surprised if she hated me for the rest of her life and never wanted to talk to me ever again.

"You're lying." she said after a while. I looked at her and she was shaking her head furiously. I took a deep breath.

"No. I'm not lying."

"You're lying. You must be lying!"

"I'm not, Anouk. I'm sorry. I... I don't know, I should have told you sooner, I should've never given you away, I don't know, okay? I'm sorry."

"Are you for real? Are you for fucking real? You're really not lying?"

"I'm not. I'm serious. I'm your mother. This is me in the picture."

"What the fuck? What the actual fuck? I can't believe you'd tell me this now... just like that. Like it's nothing! Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm really, really fucking sorry. I just.. I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to tell you anything sooner. I was scared of how you'd react, I was scared I'd say it at the wrong time, I don't know. I just didn't know how to say anything to you about this at all. I mean... Fuck. I knew I'd screw it up." I said. Shit. I was never so scared in my life. I could see some tears rolling down Anouk's cheeks, as she was shaking her head, still somewhat in disbelief at what I'd just told her.

"Why did you give me away?" she wanted to know quietly, her voice breaking from the tears streaming down her face now.

"I had you when I was 16. I was young and dumb and I had no idea what I was doing with my life. I was on drugs most nights, I got drunk all the time, I was in no condition to have a child. At least my parents thought so. They wanted me to give you away and I had no other place to stay and I was scared and I just had no idea what was going to happen. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I always thought it was for the best that I had no contact to you whatsoever, but when all the stuff with Jack happened, I just... I started wondering what had happened to you after all those years. And then I found you and then you were here and... and... I'm just so sorry, okay?" I tried to explain.

I couldn't really explain it, though. I had screwed up with Anouk. From the moment I got pregnant until now, I had screwed it up. Any little decision I had ever made, they were all wrong.

Anouk was shaking her head again, her face red from the tears now, as she got up quickly, looking down on me with an almost disgusted expression. I wasn't really prepared for how much that expression would hurt inside.

"I hate you." she said, as she turned around and walked away.


	17. Chapter 16 or Like Mother, Like Daughter

_Songs: Nirvana - All Apologies; The Breeders - Bang On; Dorothy - Down To The Bottom_

I was sitting in some shady bar out in the slums and was on my fourth bottle of beer. I could definitely feel the effects of the alcohol on me, but I wasn't drunk enough yet. I also had to get halfway sober again, before I got back to the house. I was still sober enough to know I couldn't risk Mordecai starting to drink again. And in the back of my head I already knew I had screwed up by going out on my own and getting this drunk. The first two beers I drank with Gaige while we just talked and said our goodbyes.

The third one I had on my own, telling Gaige I'd stay for just one more. Now I was halfway through the fourth bottle and things started spinning a little. I didn't even know where exactly I was, just that this place looked shady as hell. I was pretty sure I had witnessed a major drug deal just a few minutes ago. But I figured if I just laid low, I'd be fine. Thank God, I had a gun with me.

Anouk hadn't been talking to me, since I told her the truth. And I could understand why she was upset. That was the whole problem. I could absolutely understand why she'd never want to talk to me ever again. I was feeling pretty bad in general, so I did what I did best. Run away from the problem.

I felt a little bad, because I knew Mordecai would start worrying after a while. He knew what had happened and he knew that I needed some time to feel sorry for myself. I had told him that I was meeting up with Gaige. He didn't know I was gulping down beers or that I was out in the slums or that I was on my own for about an hour at this point. He didn't need to know or he'd be worried even more.

I looked around me. Maybe this really wasn't the best place to be for me right now. There were a handful people around me, some of them sitting on tables in the back, one or two sitting at the bar a few stools away from me. At least half the people in this place had guns with them and weren't even trying to hide them.

I didn't know why I was starting to get a little worried, I mean after all, I wasn't a local and I had no beef with anyone. I had kept out of other people's business, hadn't I...? Fuck. The guys that wanted the money from Camila. I had NOT kept out of people's business. I scanned the room, but no one seemed to behave suspiciously or anything. Maybe I should keep an eye out for that.

I took a big gulp from my beer and only now fully realized what an awful bitter aftertaste it had. I glanced down at my ECHO device that had been blinking for a good while now. I had ignored it until now, but I figured I could check if it was something serious. The message was from Lilith.

_"Nova, Mordy told me what happened? Are you okay? Do you wanna talk?"_

I sighed and decided to ignore the message for a little longer. I really wasn't in the mood to talk just yet. But maybe I should check my map to see where the hell I was. I couldn't really remember how I got here.

I had met up with Gaige at the Fast Travel Station and then we had just been talking and wandering around until we found this place. I had no clue where I was and how I had gotten here. Hopefully Gaige had found the way back. Shit, what if she didn't find the way back? What if she was wandering around on her own out there? What if something had happened to her on the way back?

"Yo Gaige, you get home okay?" I mumbled into my ECHO device. I nervously tapped my feet as I waited for a reply. Maybe she was already asleep.

_"Yup. You still out?"_ she answered pretty quickly. I sighed with relief and chose to ignore that message, too. Gaige was alright and that was all that I needed to know to be a little calmer. Gaige didn't need to know that I was still out drinking.

"That seat free?" I suddenly heard a voice next to me. I sat up straight and looked over just to see a mass of black, curly hair. Anouk.

"Yeah." I replied with a shrug and quickly took another gulp from my bottle. I was surprised to see her here. Even more surprised she was talking to me. I wondered where this was going...

"Did Mordecai send you? Or Gaige?" I asked.

"No, no one sent me." she answered. Huh. I stared at my bottle, not sure what else to say. I was prepared for anything, but not this.

"You been here a long time?" Anouk wanted to know.

"I don't really know how long. Quite some time. You want a drink?" I replied, after I had gotten over my initial surprise that she wanted to talk to me. I wondered what this was about. Maybe she wanted to know some more stuff, maybe she was still angry and had more to say to me. I wouldn't have blamed her.

"Sure, I'll have a beer, too." she said. I made eye contact with the bartender and asked for another beer. He got one out of the fridge, opened it on the edge of the counter and put it down in front of Anouk without a word.

"Thanks." she mumbled and sipped on it. I watched her grimace at the bitter aftertaste and smiled a little. It really was a terrible beer, even worse than rakk ale. I didn't think that was possible.

"Did you come here all on your own?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, I got your ECHO signal and found where you were. It's quite a walk from the Fast Travel station, I almost got lost once or twice." she answered. Shit, I should have tried to turn off my signal.

"Ah damn. I have no idea how I got here, so it'll be terrible to get back. No matter how much you hate me, you're not going back alone, okay? I'll come with you, it's not the safest place out there." I told her.

"I don't hate you." she replied quietly. I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. Was she just saying that, because she felt bad for me or something?

"Don't worry, it's okay. I'd probably hate myself, too, if I were in your situation. I mean, you told me how much it would mean to you to find your roots and all and all this time, I've just been sitting here keeping it to myself like some douche-"

"No, I mean it. I don't hate you. I shouldn't have said that, I was just... really angry and upset. But I didn't mean to say that. I just... I don't know. I'm sorry I said that."

"It's alright, I understand. So... are we good now or...?" I asked. Anouk nodded quickly and smiled a little. We sat there for a while not saying anything, because everything that could have been said would have been weird.

"Oh fuck this, I knew this would get incredibly awkward!" I blurted out when the silence just got too much for me. Anouk started laughing loudly.

"I'm really sorry. I knew I've been saying all the time I wanted to find my biological family and all, but when you actually told me, it was just kind of too much. I overreacted. And you've been really nice to me from the beginning. Can... can I ask you some stuff?" Anouk wanted to know.

"Of course. Ask anything you want. I'm just glad we're on talking terms again." I told her and smiled softly.

"How long have you known?"

"Well... Actually, my friend Lilith offered to look through some Hyperion data we found, if there was any trace of you. I only knew your name, and how old you'd be, so I didn't really think she'd find anything. But after we defeated the Warrior and Jack, she gave me this datapad that was full with stuff about you. So I read through it while I couldn't do much, because of my injuries. And then after a while, Mordecai brought up this competition, so we could get some cash for my new leg and your name was on the list. So I figured if we met, then we did and I might tell you. And if not, then maybe it wasn't meant to be. And you know the rest."

"That's wild. I mean, knowing you, it kind of explains a good few things about me. I don't know why I didn't figure it out sooner or anything. I mean, looking at it now, it's pretty obvious we're related."

"I don't know if I'd call it obvious. And honestly, with the amount of people in all the six galaxies I wouldn't suspect a relative behind every person that was kinda similar to me. It would be weirder if you had suspected it."

"So... Mordecai isn't my father, right?" she asked next, looking genuinely confused. I almost spit out my drink, because I had to laugh at the thought of it. I shook my head, when I had calmed down again.

"Hell nah. I only met Mordecai 10 years after I arrived on Pandora. You must have been... 13 or something at the time." I told her.

"Then who's my dad? Do you know?"

"Yeah, I know. But he's not important. Hell, I don't even know if he's still alive or not. Probably not. He was a guy from Aquator, lived out in the slums. I met him when I was 15 and he was probably the very first guy I was absolutely in love with. He knocked me up after 3 months and when I told him I was pregnant, he broke up and didn't want anything to do with you. Or me. Well, except for a booty call now and then. And the three months I was dating him? Not good. It was a big blur of drugs, alcohol, violence and murder. It took me a while to see it, but this guy? He wasn't good for me at all. So when I finally realized it, I didn't have any contact with him at all. I don't know what happened to him. He was involved with a gang, so I'd say he's probably dead." I explained.

"Wow, that's... that's some story. So... he's never seen me? He doesn't know you gave me up for adoption?" Anouk asked. I shook my head.

"No. He doesn't know. He didn't want to know." I answered.

"So... why did you give me away? You were young and he didn't support you, but wouldn't your parents have supported you?"

"Oh no. No, no, no. Adoption was their idea in the first place. I didn't get along very well with my parents, honestly. To be fair, I probably was a nightmare to take care of once I hit puberty. But they were also just really strict. I was barely allowed to see any friends, they wanted to see peak performance in school, no skirts above the knee and all that jazz. And of course the stricter they got, the more I rebelled against them. I was the complete opposite extreme, mostly just to spite them. When they heard I was pregnant, they freaked. They just absolutely freaked. They didn't even know I was seeing anyone, let alone I was having sex. So yeah. They pushed me towards adoption, really."

"I wonder if they'd wanna meet me at some stage..."

"Maybe. I haven't seen them in 15 years. A lot could have changed since then. Hell, I know I've changed a lot since then. I don't think I'd get along with them better now, but the problem would be different. But you? You're brilliant. You're a sweet girl, successful. I'd say they'd like you. But I don't know. I haven't talked to them since I left."

"So Pandora is your home, really?"

"Yeah. I suppose so. Hey, if you ever wanna come and visit me on Pandora, go ahead. Hyperion is still there, but they are weakened, so it's not half as dangerous as it was before. It would be great to have you over." I said to her. She looked at me and smiled. We both finished our beers and I got some cash out of my pocket to pay up.

"You know what? I'd love to see Pandora, so I'll probably take you up on that offer. I need to ask for some time off first, though." she said.

"Sure thing. Just echo me, and let me know." I answered, when I heard a suspicious noise. That was the sound of a gun being cocked. I froze for a second, then continued as usual. I handed the bartender the money and sat back down. I put my hand on my gun and got ready to pull it, if necessary.

"Anouk, you got any weapons on you?" I whispered to her. She gave me a confused look and nodded discreetly.

"Get a gun ready." I said quietly and looked around me. There were a few people all around the bar that were watching us. Shit. I should have listened to my drunk paranoia. I got up from the chair and turned around just to hear the empty bottle behind me shatter. Like a reflex I pulled my gun and pointed it at the first person I saw with a gun in their hands. There were several of them. We were surrounded.

"The fuck do you want?" I shouted at them.

"You killed some of ours, now you gotta pay. Didn't think you'd get away with it, did you?" one of the men said with a raucous voice.

"Ah, fuck. Look, my daughter's got nothing to do with this, let her leave, alright?" I replied. I didn't think it's work, but it was worth a try. All I got was laughter, though. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Anouk, get ready to shoot your way out of here." I told her. It occurred to me shortly that she probably hadn't killed many people before, but there was no time for her to get used to that thought. Not if she wanted to survive.

"You think you can just get away from us that easily?" the guy with the throaty voice said to us, still laughing. I took a deep breath and fired a shot at him, hitting him in the chest. His laugh turned into an ugly gurgling sound and he fell to the ground. There was silence in the bar, as if they hadn't expected me to actually shoot.

There was no time to ask questions, though. I quickly aimed at the next guy I could see and took him out, just as he was running for cover. I felt a bullet get reflected off my shield and tumbled backwards a little. Anouk's hands were shaking while she was taking out one guy after another on her side.

We made our way to the door of the bar by just shooting wildly around us, hoping to incapacitate the remaining gang members. Once we were outside I slammed the door shut and took a deep breath. There was no one waiting outside with a gun or anything. I was surprised they had found me, I didn't think anyone else had seen us kill those guys trying to get money from Camila.

"Alright, let's leg it." I said to Anouk and started running. I had no clue where I was going, but I knew we had to get away from there as soon as possible. And I was probably better off not setting foot in this part of town again, because I had just killed a whole lot of people and I was sure they'd be angry at me.

"Where are we going?" Anouk shouted at me, panting while we were turning into small alleyways and around all kinds of little corners just to get away with the most confusing route ever. I could feel my leg starting to hurt. I had been exercising before we got here, but I still had my limits.

"I have no idea. Where is the Fast Travel station?" I replied as I jumped over the fence to a small backyard. I really felt the pain in my leg when I landed from that jump. That was when Anouk caught up with me.

"Follow me, I know where it is." she said and ran ahead. I did my best to keep up with her, but the beer and my leg got the better of me and I had to slow down.

"How far is it?" I asked.

"Not far, just around the corner!" Anouk shouted back at me. I looked behind me, sighed, and continued jogging until I turned around the corner that Anouk had disappeared behind. I could see her at the Fast Travel station, typing the code into it. I sped up and made it to the station just in time for us to be transported back.

When we materialized again I fell on my knees. I felt terribly sick and my leg was in an insane amount of pain. Everything was spinning, which was normal, but this time it just wouldn't stop. What the fuck was that?

"Are you okay?" Anouk asked, while she was still gasping for air.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." I mumbled. I limped away from the Fast Travel station and did my best to hold my hair back as I was throwing up. God, this was terrible. I really, really hated myself in that moment. When I came back, Anouk was standing at the Fast Travel station with a big smug grin on her face.

"First time fast travelling while you're drunk?" she said.

"I dunno. Possibly. I just wanna shower and sleep right now." I replied. Anouk laughed and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Come on, let's get back home."


	18. Chapter 17 or Team Work

_Songs: Barns Courtney - Champion; The Fratellis - Dogtown_

Finally. Finally we had some moving targets. If I wasn't too great at the other disciplines, it didn't matter, because this squad competition was what Pandora had prepared me for. It was just a whole lot prettier than on Pandora.

We had all been dumped in a wooded area with a few smaller lakes and rivers in it. It was a beautiful spot. This whole thing turned out to include a lot of survival elements, since we'd all be spending a few days in this arena, which meant all that stuff I learnt on Pandora - how to get clean water, how to hunt for food and prepare it, finding shelter at night, moving targets, sneaking - all of that came in really handy now.

_"Any more targets in your sector?"_ Mordecai asked over the ECHO.

"Can't see any more targets, but I'll double check. I can see one in your sector that you... nevermind." I said as I saw the target go down.

_"Already taken care of."_

I could hear the smugness in Mordecai's voice. I really realized now that I missed being on Pandora, raiding bandit camps or shooting some skags just to pass the time. Maybe murder wasn't the healthiest pastime, but hell, it was fun.

I scanned my surroundings carefully again to see if I missed any hidden targets, but things looked pretty good. Maybe it was time to move to another sector before we'd camp. I wondered how many more days we'd be out here camping, since this was the third night and there couldn't be many more targets left.

"I think my sector is clear. You see anything?" I echoed Mordecai.

_"No. Let's check in with the girls."_ he suggested.

"Anouk, Nadia, we're done with our sectors, how's it looking for you?" I asked them. It couldn't be long now until we'd meet another squad and then it was pretty much over. Once we met up with the rest of the squads, it was all about who could hit the remaining targets fastest.

_"Everything good, but I think the others are getting close. There seemed to be some commotion earlier on."_ Anouk answered.

_"Alright, let's move to the next sector then. We're probably best off to pair up for that. Squad 3 and 5 have already met and are moving in, I've managed to get some of their communication."_ Mordecai said. I got up slowly from my hiding place. My muscles hurt from lying still for such a long time, but we had to go on. This was probably the last bit of the competition and I was set on winning this thing.

I unloaded my rifle, put the safety on and carried it over my shoulder, as I walked over to where Mordecai and I should technically meet, careful not to make much noise. I heard a little thud just behind me and as I turned around I saw Mordecai who had just jumped down from a tree.

"You alright? Ready to move on?" he asked quietly. I nodded. Looking around me, I could see a little movement at the other end of the sector. That was probably Anouk and Nadia. I wondered whether the other two squads had already met up. It seemed like we hadn't heard from 1 and 4, yet. But we'd probably run into them very soon.

"Where's the next sector?" I wanted to know as I followed Mordecai deeper into the woods. It was a beautiful day today, which made the whole operation much more pleasant. The sun was shining through the trees and it was nice and warm. The first day it was raining and it was a pain to lie in the rain for hours, waiting for the right moment to shoot a certain target and crawling through the muddy ground.

"About 800 metres northwest. There are only two sectors left and it looks like 3 and 5 are in the middle of finishing one of them. We'll probably meet up with 1 and 4 then. Or only one of them. We better be quick." Mordecai said.

"Alright. Are you going up in the tree again?" I asked. He nodded.

"If I can. You're gonna stay low and close to me, okay?"

"Of course. Can't believe it's almost over. I mean, it was fun and all, but I also can't wait to have a proper bed again. And a shower." I replied and smiled.

"Well, it's not over yet. But I could do with a proper bed, too." Mordecai answered. I smiled. It wasn't that I wasn't an outdoors person, but after those two days I could feel every single bone in my body and since the rain on day one I couldn't help but feel constantly cold. It was like the rain crept into my bones and just stayed there.

"I think I'll climb up in that tree. You wanna find a good vantage point somewhere down below and echo Anouk and Nadia?" Mordecai suddenly said, nodding towards a tall tree with lots of winding branches.

"Sure. Be careful." I said.

"I always am." Mordecai answered and jumped up, holding onto a branch. He pulled himself up onto the branch and then was soon lost in the leaves. I looked around myself to see if I could find a good vantage point.

There were barely any bushes or any undergrowth I could hide in. This wasn't ideal. There were a few small hills and a fallen tree, maybe that would be a good hiding place. I quickly walked over to the tree, trying to make as little noise as possible. It wasn't the best hiding place, but it'd have to do.

"Anouk, Nadia, we are here. Mordecai's up in the big tree in the southeast corner of the sector and I'm where the fallen tree is. Are you guys going into a crossfire position?" I echoed while I was gathering up a few branches to cover myself.

_"Yup, we're on it. I've seen some movement from the north of the sector, looks like we've got company."_ Anouk answered.

"Alright, I suppose we gotta be quick then. Let's finish this." I said, lying down and quickly covering myself with a few branches. I loaded my rifle again and looked through the scope, so I could scan the area for targets.

I heard a shot from above me. Sounded like Mordecai had already found one target and eliminated it. There were about ten targets in each sector, some of them moving, some of them not. Some were in plain sight and some were hidden pretty well. It was quite challenging, but clearing a sector felt pretty satisfying, too.

I noticed some movement at the edge of my field of view, so I quickly moved my rifle. There was a target, moving pretty fast, but it wasn't too hidden. I breathed in and held my breath, waiting for the right time to pull the trigger. When the shot went off I watched the bullet hit right in the middle of the target.

_"Good shot. There is one really close to you, difficult to see from where you are, but I can see it clearly. See the tree stump to your right?"_ Mordecai echoed me. I moved my rifle, so I could see the tree stump he mentioned.

"Yeah, I see the stump, but... oh. Okay, I got it." I said, as I noticed the target. It was really, really well hidden, but it wasn't moving. So it should be an easy shot. Just as I got ready to shoot I heard some distant gunshots from the other end of the sector. That had to be the other squad.

"Ah, shit. They're here. One of the other squads." I said.

_"Yeah, doesn't matter. Focus on the shot. We already got three targets, that will be the fourth one. They don't stand a chance."_ Mordecai replied.

I quickly aimed at the target, held my breath and pulled the trigger. I had just gotten an extra boost of adrenaline, hearing the shots from the other squad.

_"We got five out of ten, there are only two targets left, guys."_ Nadia echoed us next, just before something else popped up on my ECHO device.

"Squad 1, 3 and 5 are done with their sector and moving in on us. We better find the last two targets fast." I echoed.

_"Got one."_ Mordecai replied, just as I heard the shot from his rifle. Hell yeah! We had practically won this thing. Well, we didn't really know that yet, since we all needed to get our points counted and then there's be points given or deducted for technique and gun safety and whatnot. But it definitely looked good for us.

And then I saw it. The other target. It was a moving target and clear in view. I quickly aimed at it, taking a deep breath and holding it and... it disappeared. Someone else had gotten it first. Shit. That was the last one. I looked down at my ECHO device to see whether we'd get the notification that this sector was clear.

The map with all the sectors had disappeared and there was a loading screen. Then it showed the notification that the sector was clear. Shortly after the notification changed to "_All sectors clear. Return to Fast Travel station."_

I let out the breath that I had been holding in for ages. I hadn't even noticed I'd been holding it in. That was it. We did it. We finished the competition. What was the plan now? Would we just get up and walk back?

_"We've done it, team. Let's go and head back, alright?"_ Nadia announced. I heard a pretty loud thud behind me now. I guess that meant we weren't sneaking anymore. I moved all the branches out of the way and got up, my bones and my muscles aching as if I had run a marathon.

"You okay?" Mordecai, who was standing behind me, asked me. I slung my rifle over my shoulder.

"Yeah. Do we... just go back now?" I wanted to know. It was really strange not to go around, looting the place after we'd cleared it. Just leaving felt... wrong. But that was just me being used to Pandora.

"Yeah. We get back to the Fast Travel station, get some nice tea and then we get our results from the targets we hit. We can go and get a shower and all that after and this evening they'll announce the final results. And then we're technically good to go." he explained. Huh. That was easy.

"Okay. I guess, we better get back then. I really want that hot shower." I replied. I saw another group passing us, talking quietly among themselves. It was the two Maliwan guys and some of the people from Artemis. I didn't even know what other squads we were up against, so it was quite a surprise to see them.

"Hey, hey, hey, are you ready for the party?" I heard Nadia shouting as she came jogging over to us, Anouk in tow.

"I'm ready for a nap." Anouk mumbled when they got here.

"What party? We don't even know if we've won yet." I replied.

"Who else is gonna win? The Maliwan losers? Doubt it. And there is gonna be a big fat party at the very end of this whole competition. Like, tonight." Nadia said with a big smile on her face.

"Another one? I'm gonna need some sleep, then we can talk about a party." I answered. I felt really tired, now that everything was over. Plus, I needed to get up early tomorrow, so I could go and get bits and pieces for my new leg with Anouk.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna stay long. It was nice to be home, but I've got enough of it for now. Good to remember why leaving wasn't too bad." Mordecai said.

"Agreed. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I'm gonna need to catch up on some sleep before that." I added.

"We're still meeting that early?" Anouk asked.

"Yeah, sorry, but we gotta get that stuff, go and find a cargo ship to take us back to Pandora and make a pit stop on Elpis, and we need to say goodbye to Mordecai's mum and her roommates. And then we still have to cut up all the material and put together my leg. So yeah. Long day ahead." I answered. Anouk moaned and then took a deep breath and nodded.

"It's okay. It's alright. I don't need that much sleep. I can pull through, no biggie." she said, a look of determination in her eyes.

"Wouldn't have expected anything else from my daughter." I replied, a big smile on my face.


	19. Chapter 18 or Picking Parts

_Songs: Shantel - Disko Partizani; Major Lazer - Light It Up_

"Alright, time to start scavenging. We're going to need lots of stuff and a workshop to put everything together. I've been looking into finding workshops, but couldn't really get anywhere, unfortunately. So, unless you guys have any ideas?" Anouk asked. Nadia was still fast asleep, while the three of us were trying to find the best way to go about this new leg thing.

"I know a guy." Mordecai said.

"Okay, that's good. So how about you go and ask him if we can use his workshop to make your girlfriend a new prosthetic leg? The two of us can go and get the rest of the materials. We're gonna need titanium and carbon fibre and a whole lot of microchips, because Gaige built in a bunch of extras here and I'm not sure if you even want them, but they all seem pretty cool and-"

"Yeah, I asked Gaige to put them in there." I interrupted her. Anouk looked up from her drafts and smiled.

"Alright then. Let's do this, friends." she said.

"I'll echo you the location of my guy, once I'm there and got the workshop. Anything else you need there?" Mordecai wanted to know.

"Well... a laser cutter would be great, but we can probably find a way to do stuff without that, I suppose..."

"I'll organize one. Anything else?"

"Lots of clean space?"

"Already done. I'm off then." Mordecai said and put a fast travel code into the system. Shortly after he dematerialised and was gone.

"Alright, so where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to one of the fanciest places on this planet." she answered. I sighed. I had had my fair share of fancy places for a good while now, I wasn't sure if I wanted to see another fancy place.

"It's not gonna take long, don't worry. I already worked out exactly what we need. We'll go there and I'll get the stuff and then we go right to the workshop. Plan?" Anouk said while she put in another fast travel code. I nodded quickly.

"Plan." I answered, just as we dematerialised and found ourselves in a modern looking building the next second. We were in some sort of building. There was glass everywhere - tall windows made of glass, glass panels to separate sections, glass everywhere. The walls were kept in white, making the place clean looking. There were some obligatory plants all over the place.

"The hell is this place?" I asked. It looked like some futuristic workplace or shopping mall, just all in one building.

"This is Acadia. One of the biggest sellers of parts and materials in this galaxy. For private purposes of course. Technically all the big corporations would be the biggest sellers, but we really only sell them as guns. And some of the raw materials, too. It's complicated. Anyways, we should get all we need here." Anouk explained and walked over to a data pad mounted at a wall.

I kept looking around, open-mouthed. I hadn't seen anything like this before. I mean, yeah, I knew of Acadia, but I had never been inside the place. If I needed some parts I'd usually get them with a small retailer. Not at the wholesale.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, can I help you with anything?" someone next to me said. I looked over and there was a staff member, wearing all black, with a badge hanging around her neck. She looked at me, a little concerned.

"Uh... no, I'm okay, thanks." I said and quickly walked over to the data pad Anouk was working on. She was typing on it furiously and I was surprised how fast she got all the stuff together. It was like she was working here herself.

"This place is fantastic!" I told her. She smiled and continued to quickly tap on the data pad and gather up materials. I glanced over at the balance of credits in the corner that was constantly going up. But thankfully it wasn't even near my limit. Looked like I could afford a new leg and a ticket back to Pandora.

"Okay, so what colour do you want your leg?" Anouk asked.

"What?" I blurted out. I wasn't expecting any questions at all, so I was kind of taken aback by that.

"What colour do you want your leg? There are all kinds of colours you can get, so you might wanna take a look."

I looked down at the display and Anouk was right. There were all sorts of colours, some costing more and others less. It was pretty insane. The amount of available choices didn't make it easier for me, though.

"I dunno. What do you think? I'm kinda going towards black, but red is cool, too." I said. Anouk shrugged and grinned at me.

"I work for Vladof, red is my favourite colour. But I mean, I can order one and the other as a spray paint, so if you ever get sick of the colour, you can just change them." she answered. Okay, that was good.

"Cool, get me a red leg then and black as spray paint." I told her, when I heard my ECHO beeping. It was Mordecai with the location of the workshop. Looked like things were coming together.

"Aaaaaand... order!" Anouk said and tapped on the display one last time. She looked over at me and grinned.

"We're done? Where do we get the stuff?" I wanted to know.

"We've got a digistruct code and we can digistruct it when we get to the workshop. Did Mordecai send anything yet?" Anouk asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, he just sent us something. Looks like it's out in the slums. Let's go." I answered. Anouk nodded and pulled up the fast travel code from her ECHO device while we walked back to the Fast Travel station.

Within the next minute we were standing in the slums, right on a busy road. It looked like the workshop was in some small side street, around a few corners. I looked down at my map and then gestured to Anouk to follow me. We went into a little alleyway and then turned left into another small street. It didn't take us long until we ended up at the workshop. It looked pretty big and more like one of Scooter's garages.

"That the place?" Anouk asked.

"Looks like it." I told her, as we walked up to it. It was dark inside, but I could make out Mordecai's silhouette in the back of the garage.

"Mordy?" I shouted.

"Back here. Don't worry, the place is set up and ready." he answered. I walked to the back of the garage, Anouk following me. Mordecai was standing next to a small door, seemingly leading to a different section of the building.

"Alright, do we work here?" Anouk wanted to know. Mordecai shook his head and opened the door.

"We're going to a proper place to build cybernetic limbs. It's a bit hidden away, because the guy I know is making them illegally. And selling them on the black market. He's also doing some illegal modifications, so none of you can say a word about this, alright?" Mordecai told us. Anouk and I both nodded as we followed him through another set of doors. We were in a small room with only a desk in it now. There were a few boxes standing around in a corner. Mordecai went over there and moved them out of the way, revealing a door in the ground, leading down into a cellar.

We all followed him down the narrow stairs and ended up in a bigger room that looked more like what we needed. There was a laser cutter and there were several molds for limbs standing on shelves. Mordecai's friend was sitting in front of a computer and looked up at us, giving us a warm smile.

"Come on in, lock the door behind you. Who of you needs the new leg?" he asked with a big smile on his face.

"Uh... that would be me. Hi." I said.

"Ah, you are Nova then, right? Mordecai's girlfriend? And then the young lady must be your daughter." the guy said.

"Uhm, yeah. Yeah, that's right."

"Good, good. Just so you know, if you end up telling someone about this, I will find you. It won't be fun and you'll need more than some prosthetics after. Understood?" he said and his smile was suddenly gone. Anouk and I both nodded quickly. I guess that was the price we had to pay for making a prosthetic in the workshop of a black market seller. Could have been worse. Once he saw us nodding, his smile returned to his face and he sat back down at his computer.

"Very good. My name's Hernan, by the way. Now, don't let me bother you. You do your stuff. If you wanna use any of my molds, go ahead, but clean up after you use them, okay?" he said.

"Sure thing. Alright, let's do this. Nova, you and Mordecai, go and find a mold that fits your leg while I start programming all these micro chips. I'll walk you two through the whole process of making the actual leg, don't worry. We'll be done in no time." Anouk said and walked over to a console. She was fiddling with her ECHO device for a while until a bunch of materials finally digistructed in the middle of the room.

"Ah, perfect. Now, go and see which size mold fits you and bring it back, okay?" Anouk repeated and went to the pile of materials to gather up all the microchips. Mordecai and I looked at each other and then shrugged and went over to the shelves with different molds. It took us a while until we found the ones for legs, but after that we found the right fit pretty quickly.

"You got it? Great. I've got the titanium heating up over there. Put the mold together and put it on the marked spot. Then your job's done for now." Anouk said without even looking up from her console. It was fascinating to watch her, as she was programming microchip after microchip.

Hernan was standing behind her and was watching her programming, while we hoisted the mold onto the marked spot. It was surprisingly heavy, but at least I knew the actual leg wouldn't be that bad in the end. Gaige had shown me her robotic arm and it was made from Titanium and carbon fibre, too, and that didn't seem too heavy. When we were done with the mold, he looked up at us and nodded happily.

"The girl knows what she's doing."


	20. Chapter 19 or Goodbyes

_Songs: Amy Winehouse - Valerie; Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon_

There were significantly more people saying goodbye to us at the shuttle station than welcoming us when we got here first. And I had significantly more luggage. I had all my guns in crates, but I had an extra crate for my leg now. It looked pretty badass and I couldn't wait to finally, finally get it attached.

With the competition I actually felt how much my injured leg was hurting and I realized I'd be much better off without it and with a new prosthetic limb. My backpack was full with clothes now. I had a whole lot of new clothes and even a new pair of combat boots that I was proud of. My old pair was still good, but you could see I had been using it every day for the last three years.

It felt really, really strange to leave again, after I had gotten so used to this place now and after we had met so many new people. I mean, I couldn't believe we had actually met Mordecai's mum. We both thought she was somewhere off planet. I finally met my daughter and we were on good terms. And then there were Nadia, Jael and Camila with her little son. They were all there to say goodbye.

It also felt really strange to leave without Axton and Gaige. I had kept them up to date with what was going on, but it was just really different having them around in person and talking to them over the ECHO. I had already kind of realised that with Lilith, and I was looking forward to seeing her again.

Brick and Tina were also waiting for us to come back and I couldn't imagine how Tina must be feeling. It was pretty hard for her to just let us go away for so long and now we were finally back. I could barely believe it myself. And then there were Maya, Salvador, Zero and Krieg, that were all still back on Pandora. I felt like I had been away for years, but it had only been about a month and a half.

"Take care and thanks for your help. If you're back here, come and visit, okay?" Camila said to us, as she was giving us a hug.

"Definitely. If you ever need to leave this place for any reason at all, you can come to Pandora. Just let us know and we'll take care of you. It's not a nice place, but if you need to leave the planet, you'll have a place to stay, okay?" I told her. She nodded and stepped back, so Jael could say goodbye.

Jael had her arms crossed and gave us a smug smile. I still had no idea how to feel about her, but she just had this aura that said she was one step ahead of all of us. Like she still knew more about us, than we did about her. It was driving me mad, but I also kind of admired it.

"Don't get into too much trouble, Jael. I mean it. This job might work fine for you for a while, but at some stage you'll get careless and then you're gonna be practically dead." Mordecai told her.

"I won't get careless. But thanks for your concern. And thanks for not feeding me to the dogs. If you ever need any information, send me a message." she replied. Mordecai was shaking his head.

"Whatever you say, girl."

"We'll keep that in mind. If you ever want a change of locations, I think you might actually like Pandora. I don't really know how long Lilith is going to keep up the Raiders, but I hope we'll be around for a good while and we can probably use someone like you. So stay in touch. Alright?" I added.

"Aight." she answered with that smug little grin on her face. I suspected she had made a plan on how to use us to her advantage the minute she met us. There was nothing that I wanted less than to get on her bad side.

I figured Jael wasn't really the hugging type, so I just awkwardly waved at her as we moved on to Yolanda. She looked like she had been up all night, crying. I felt really, really sorry for her. I couldn't imagine what she must feel like, seeing her son again and him leaving so soon again.

"You take care of yourselves, alright? Don't get in trouble." she said to Mordecai and me. The bit about not getting in trouble might have been a bit late. Anything to do with Pandora was trouble.

"Don't worry, mamá. We'll be fine. You take care of yourself, okay?" Mordecai replied and gave her a hug.

"I'll worry about you until I'm dead. I'm your mother, Mordecai. It's what I do." she answered and laughed a little.

"Well, try not to worry then." he said and let go of her, so I could say goodbye as well. I gave Yolanda a long hug.

"It was nice to meet you. Make sure he stays alive, will you?" she told me.

"I'll do my best." I promised and let go of her.

"And call once in a while, okay? Let me know you're alright. And see if you can find your brother. Felipe needs some help and I don't know who else could help." she said to both of us.

"I'll see what I can do, ma." Mordecai replied. The last two people waiting for us were Anouk and Nadia. We quickly said goodbye to Nadia, but it was strange having to say goodbye to Anouk.

"So that's it then." I said.

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, I've got your ECHO frequency, so we'll stay in touch."

"Definitely! And if you ever feel the need to visit Pandora, you can come over anytime. It's not the safest place, but it's a lot safer than when Handsome Jack used to be there. Just let me know if you wanna visit."

"I will! I've never been to Pandora, so I'll come and visit soon, I really wanna see the place. It's gonna be exciting!"

"Yeah. When are you guys leaving?"

"Our shuttle leaves this evening, so we gotta head to the terminal soon anyways." Anouk said. I nodded. Guess, this was it. I held out my arms to hug her.

"I'll send you an ECHO message of my new leg, once I got it attached." I said, as we hugged.

"Definitely. I'm glad we finally met. Or met again, I guess." she replied.

"Yeah. I'll talk to you soon. Take care, okay?"

"I will. And you, too!"

And that was it. I waved one last time and we made our way into the shuttle. I got this weird feeling that I was forgetting something. Any time I ever went anywhere I got that feeling and it was driving me mad.

"You okay?" Mordecai asked me as the shuttle doors were closing behind us. We sat down on our assigned seats. There weren't really that many people going to Pandora, most were heading to some smaller planet on the way or Eden-4 after the stop at Pandora, so the shuttle was only about half full.

"Yeah, I think I am. It's just a weird feeling. Kind of like going back to nothing, because what is there to do on Pandora?" I replied.

"We have to get Athena, Hyperion still has a strong presence and then we'll probably have to question Aurelia as well. Plus, we always have that big map with all the new Vaults, in case we get bored." Mordecai said.

"Yeah, that's true. Man, can you imagine travelling to all those planets? Looking for Vaults again and fighting God knows what corporation this time?"

"Yeah, I can. Although I'll probably get too comfortable again, once we get back to Pandora." Mordecai answered.

"Guess you're right. It would be amazing, seeing more new places and all. Maybe we'll get to do that at some stage."

I looked out of the shuttle window just as we started going up in the air. I realized I wouldn't only miss the people on this planet, but also the planet itself. I'd miss having the possibility to just go into the forest on a hot day where temperatures would be a lot more pleasant. I'd miss the modern feel of the place. I'd miss the tree houses, the markets, the easy availability of food and drink of any kind.

Hell, I'd miss just seeing some green around the place. Back on Pandora everything would be full of sand, rock and scrap metal again. It would be slightly nicer in the Highlands or at any of the places by the sea. But Sanctuary? Same old rusty town. Flying around in the air as usual.

But I was also looking forward to some stuff. I was looking forward to finally being able to just shoot people again, if they were being complete assholes. I was looking forward to seeing Brick again. And Tina. And Lilith. Seeing all the other Vault Hunters. Hanging out with Scooter. And I was looking forward to getting my new leg. I never thought I'd look forward to that.

"Can't wait to be back home, to be honest." Mordecai suddenly blurted out. I looked over to him, a confused smile on my face.

"I mean, it was good to be back on Artemis, but now that we're actually leaving, I can't wait to finally be back on Pandora." he explained.

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean. I could do with the whole journey being over right now, too." I said.

"Plus, I can't get my brother out of my head. I'll have to see if I can find out what happened there and if we can somehow bail him out of prison." he added.

"Sounds like a plan. Maybe we'll have some time to take care of that once we're back. Lil probably still has all the Hyperion data stored away somewhere. We can scan through it and see if there is something."

"Yeah, probably. You think Anouk will actually come to Pandora?" Mordecai asked, changing the topic. I shrugged.

"I don't know. I just hope that when she visits, it'll be a really calm and peaceful time where no one gets killed. Well, except for the bandits and all of them. But none of us." I answered. I was hoping that Anouk would come and visit, but I knew that the chances would be pretty slim.

Yeah, she knew I was her mother now and she said she wanted to visit, but don't we all make empty promises like that all the time? But maybe she was really serious about this. Maybe she would like to come and visit me. She seemed like the kind of person that would actually travel to Pandora because it was exciting.

"Yeah, true. Let's just focus on getting home. I guess then we can see what's going on. I'm sure, Lil has a plan or something."


	21. Chapter 20 or Something New

_Songs: Radio Moscow - 250 Miles_

I still felt quite dizzy when I woke up. I was in a somewhat dark room, a bright light shining into my face. I felt tired and exhausted and just... weird. Where the hell was I? What was I doing here?

I could hear someone babbling from what sounded like a radio. There was some noise coming from far away. Or maybe it was closer, I couldn't really place it. I turned my head to the side slowly and saw a bunch of blood and bits of flesh and then...

HOLY SHIT. There was a full leg just lying on a table right beside me. I quickly sat up and jumped down from the cot I was lying on. I expected to feel some pain in my leg, but I wasn't expecting the sheer amount of pain that suddenly surged through my entire leg. I screamed loudly and tried walking or running more, but my body just wouldn't cooperate properly and I fell.

"Oh shit!" I heard someone shout and then I was pulled up by my arms and brought back to the cot I had just escaped from.

"Silly lapushka. What do you think you do, hm?" a woman with a heavy accent asked. I felt incredibly exhausted, but things in my head started becoming a little clearer. I was on Elpis. There was Mordecai. And the woman... Nina!

"What is going on...?" I said weakly.

"Relax, lie back down, you just woke up." Mordecai answered while Nina wandered off and got an injection ready.

"What... is that my leg?" I wanted to know and pointed at the leg on the table beside the bed. I started remembering why we were here, I could barely remember getting sedated for the whole procedure, though.

"Yeah. It took 5 hours to get everything done, so we have to get on the shuttle soon, so it can bring us down to Pandora. How are you feeling?" Mordecai asked. I looked down at my leg. From the knee down there was the new robotic leg, all shiny and new, except for some blood stains.

"I'm tired. Dizzy. My leg hurts... well, the part that's still there." I answered. That was when Nina came back, a needle in her hand, grabbing my arm.

"What is that?" I asked her.

"Pain medication. Hold still or pain get worse." she said. I didn't have enough energy to struggle, so I just let her give me whatever shot she was giving me. It was all coming together again and I realized I had panicked for no reason. I sighed and laid back down on the cot.

"Sorry, I... I just panicked when I woke up and saw a leg beside me. I was pretty confused." I told them.

"Happens many times. No worry." Nina replied and came back with more shots, some of them seemed to be healing hypos.

"When do we need to go?" I asked Mordecai as Nina jammed needle after needle into my veins.

"Soonish... we need to be back on the shuttle in an hour." he said.

"I can't even walk!" I complained. Why was I not able to walk? I thought that was the whole point of getting a new leg.

"No, leg needs to heal. I give you crutches. You start using new leg after three days only. Use healing hypos three times every day. Start using leg carefully first, then more later on. Understood?" Nina told me after she was done with all the injections. I nodded weakly. I just felt so tired.

"Here, I brought you some new pants." Mordecai said and handed me a neatly folded pair of cargo pants.

"Thanks." I replied with a small smile. I unfolded them and put my normal leg through the leg of the pants and then carefully did my best with the other one. It was a struggle. It wasn't as much painful, more that I could barely move the leg. It seemed like it was super difficult to get control of it.

When I had finally managed to get to the stage where I had both my legs through the legs of the pants, I looked down with a sigh and just started bawling. I didn't even know why exactly I was so upset, maybe because I just hadn't expected having to struggle so much with a new robotic limb.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Mordecai asked, sounding really concerned. I shook my head. I didn't even know what was wrong, maybe I was just too tired and too exhausted to be able to deal with the fact, it would take some time for my leg to heal. It was stupid, really, but I just felt weird and empty inside.

"I don't know. Maybe... maybe we should just get on the shuttle and get it all over with." I said.

"Is normal, devushka. Takes time to get used to it. Get some rest. Get some sleep. Will be better soon." Nina told me. I nodded.

"Yeah, yeah... thanks." I answered. She gave me two crutches and I carefully got up on one leg, while leaning on one of the crutches and on Mordecai. I finally managed to finish putting on those pants. It took forever, not only because of my leg, but because I was also still groggy from the sedation.

Mordecai handed me the second crutch after I was done and stepped aside, so I could try them out. I moved a few steps forward carefully, just getting used to them, until I thought I was ready to get going. We really didn't have much time left, so we had to hurry back to the shuttle. And hurrying wasn't possible in my state, so things would be extra difficult. Because why wouldn't they be?

"I think I'm ready. Let's go." I said to Mordecai. He just nodded and picked up some things he had left around the place. I looked over at Nina.

"Hey, uhm... thanks for the help, Nina. I assume, Mordecai has already paid?" I asked. She nodded.

"Da, da, he has. Is a good leg. Vladof tech. Can see it from a mile away. You will be just fine with it. Give it one week." she answered. I nodded.

"Thanks. And sorry again, for being weird when I woke up, I was confused." I added. She laughed.

"Nothing to worry about. Nina know. Is confusing. Is not easy to do things. Nina understand." she replied.

"Alright then. I'll see you again at some point, I guess? Maybe?"

"Sure. Whenever on Elpis, just stop by."

"I will. Bye!" I said and moved towards the door.

"Thanks, Nina." Mordecai told her and rushed to keep the sliding door open for me, because I was slow as fuck. It took me a good while until we were finally standing in the streets of Concordia. I didn't think it was possible, but I was even more tired than just two minutes ago. I needed to get into that shuttle and sleep.

"How far is the shuttle? I really need to sleep. I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep standing any second." I told Mordecai.

"It's just outside the city, according to my ECHO. We shouldn't have to walk far. Are you feeling okay? You look pretty pale." he said.

"Yeah, I'm just dizzy. And my leg hurts. I have no idea how Gaige managed doing all this herself. Like, how did she not die? How did she continue building DT after having cut off her arm? I can't understand how she did any of that."

"No idea. Does it hurt much?"

"Not so much anymore with the painkillers. But when I got up, it hurt like shit."

"Damn. Then again, what did you expect. You got your leg cut off."

"I kinda expected it would maybe hurt a little. And I expected my leg would actually properly respond to what I was trying to do. But it's like it doesn't really react half the time. It's frustrating."

"I wouldn't know for sure, but Nina said something about the nerve endings growing together and needing to heal before it works perfectly. So that's probably why you need the healing hypos. To speed that up. Don't worry. It'll be fine. I got a bunch of documents on my data pad, so Zed knows what's happening. If there's something wrong, he can take care of you, alright?" Mordecai said. I nodded.

"Yeah, I just... I'm just really tired. Is that our shuttle?" I asked and pointed at a small space shuttle. They all looked the same to me, so I wouldn't know if that was the one we arrived in or not. Every detail before I woke up was kind of hazy and I couldn't really remember things all too well.

"It is. Come on, let's get you in there, so you can sit down and sleep. You're in no shape to be walking around anyway."

I nodded and followed him to the shuttle ramp. It was difficult to get up the ramp. I had gotten used to flat surfaces quickly, but this was different again. It took a while, but we finally reached our seats on the shuttle. It seemed like we got there just in time, because the ramp was closing not too long after we had gotten in.

"What if things don't go back to normal? What if I'll never be able to properly walk again?" I asked Mordecai. This had been my biggest concern since Zed had told me that I had to amputate.

"Don't worry. It won't happen."

"But what if it does happen?"

"Then that's what happens. There's nothing we can do about it now. And it won't change anything. No one will kick you out of Sanctuary, no one will let you starve. It won't kill you. But the thing is, it won't happen. Everything will be fine. Just give it a little bit of time." Mordecai tried to reassure it.

"I just like to worry... You won't leave me if I can't walk anymore, will you?" I asked, feeling drowsy and sleepy.

"What are you talking about, chica? Of course not! You're really confused from all those painkillers and sedatives, aren't you?" Mordecai replied. I smiled and nodded. Things started to seem so far away now.

"Yeah, I'm really confused." I answered and started laughing quietly to myself before I was drifting off to sleep.


	22. Chapter 21 or Welcome Home

_Songs: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Rastaman Live Up_

"Am I seeing things or is it my girl Nova?" I heard Lilith shouting as she came walking towards me and Mordecai. We had just arrived at Pierce Station with all our stuff. I had sent an ECHO message to Lilith just after we got out of the shuttle. Looked like she got here quickly.

"It's me." I answered and held up my crutches with a big grin on my face. Not having the support almost made me topple over and fall, but I could catch myself just in time. I was feeling better after sleeping a few more hours in the shuttle, but I could still feel the effects of the anesthetics.

"Careful, chica." Mordecai scolded me, shaking his head.

"Are you okay? Did you come here right after getting your leg replaced?" Lilith wanted to know.

"Yeah. I'm still tired, I'm gonna have to go to bed." I told her, smiling a little. I felt a little more comfortable with the thought of having a prosthetic leg now, but I wished the few days of waiting would be over already.

"Then go on to HQ and get some sleep! I'll catch up with you in a minute, let me just say hello to poor Mordecai. I've been ignoring him all this time." she answered and went over to him.

"Hi Lil." Mordecai said while feeding Talon some snacks in an effort to make him less disgruntled after having to be in the cage so many times. Talon was the sweetest bird, but he could be a little diva sometimes.

"Hey Mordy, it's good to have you guys back. How have you been?" Lilith said. That was when I was suddenly almost crushed by two massive arms pulling me into a hug. It was pretty painful.

"Look who's back! I missed you guys." Brick shouted.

"Can't... can't breathe, Brick..." I stammered.

"Brick!" Mordecai exclaimed started running up to him. Brick thankfully let go of me and ran over to Mordecai, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Aren't you glad those two have each other again?" Lilith commented with a smug grin. I laughed.

"I am kinda glad. Can you believe they kept echoing each other to gossip while we were away? Like they were talking more than we were." I replied.

"We gotta up our game."

"Oh, absolutely. So how have you been? How is Tina?" I wanted to know. Lilith just sighed, as if I had reminded her of some chores.

"Did you know that the girl is like... 13 and no one had the talk with her?" she asked. I looked at her in disbelief.

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Yeah. That honour was mine. It was really fucking awkward."

"Yeah, I'm glad I escaped that part of parenting." I answered and laughed a little. Poor Lilith. Poor Tina.

"Anyways, she's missed all of you. Mostly Mordy. But she missed you, too. Brick's been doing well with taking care of her, though." Lilith told me. I nodded as I watched Mordecai and Brick talking as if they hadn't seen each other in 10 years. And that was even though they had talked to each other over the ECHOnet just before we went down to Elpis. And I was pretty sure they had talked while I was asleep in the shuttle. I wouldn't have known with how knocked out I was.

"I missed all of you, too. I didn't even realize it when I was on Artemis, but as soon as we were on our way back here, I realized how much I missed everyone." I said. Lilith gave me a warm smile.

"You look wrecked, Nova. Let's get you upstairs, so you can sleep." she suggested. I nodded and started hopping towards HQ on my crutches with Lilith following me. Brick and Mordecai were following us in some distance.

"I've been sleeping for ages, I really just need to sit down for a while." I protested as we made our way into the house. I didn't want to sleep when I could catch up with everything that happened while we were gone.

"Well, then you go to bed and we can catch up if you're not feeling too tired. How does that sound?" Lilith replied.

"Sounds perfect." I said and was just about to follow Lilith upstairs when I realized I had no idea how to. I had never been on crutches before. I had never not known how to walk. But now I found myself looking down at my leg and up at the stairs with no idea how to get up there.

"Are you okay?" Lilith asked, looking down at me from the top of the stairs. This felt really embarrassing.

"Uh... I'm not sure..." I answered and it looked like Lilith was realizing what was going on. She grinned.

"Hold on a second, I got this." she told me and suddenly there was a purple flash and everything was glowing and when everything stopped glowing we were upstairs. Did she just...?

"Oh my God, Lilith, did you phase us up here? You know you can't just use your powers like that!" I said. But, to be perfectly honest, I was pretty glad I didn't have to limp upstairs or anything like that.

"Chill, I'm all good. I'm usually fine when it's only a few people and not too far." she replied nonchalantly.

"Well, I suppose it was the best option, considering I haven't even had those crutches for a full day." I answered and sat down on the bed. It was good to finally sit down again. My leg hurt like hell again, probably because the painkillers were wearing off while I was sleeping. But it felt a little better than it did initially.

"Do you need anything?" Lilith asked. I shook my head.

"Not really. Mordy has all my painkillers and health hypos, but I've got time until he's back here." I told her. That was when someone else walked into the room, looking over at me curiously.

"Nova! You're back already?" Maya asked, smiling and walking towards me. It looked like her hair had grown while I was gone and no one was willing to give her a haircut. Or maybe she wanted to grow her hair out, who knew.

"I am back. And crippled, for now." I said, as she gave me a hug.

"Bullshit, you'll be fine. Gaige already filled me in on all your complaining. You'll be better in a couple of days. You want one of my health vials?" she offered. I was going to say no, but then I figured I had no idea when Mordy would actually end up here in HQ and it was time for another shot, so...

"Well... if you really don't mind..."

"Sure thing." Maya said and handed me a health vial.

"Thanks. Where are the others?" I asked while I got the injection ready. It didn't ease the pain, but it would help the healing process and that was all that mattered for now. I could deal with the pain for a while.

"Salvador and Krieg are questioning a Hyperion spy, Zero is looking for something for Moxxi and I'm here staying in contact with him and keeping an eye on their ECHO transmissions." Maya answered.

"Huh. They're still sending spies down here?"

"Yeah, but not many. Seems like they're slowly getting the message that it's pointless to send spies." Lilith told me. I nodded and laid down on the bed, my head propped up against the wall.

"And where's Tina?" I wanted to know. I hadn't seen her around and that made me pretty suspicious. I mean, yeah, she could be in her workshop in Tundra Express, but from what I've heard last, the plan was to have her in a place in Sanctuary, because it would be easier to keep an eye on her there.

"Oh, Brick was watching her, until we got the news you guys were coming back, so Moxxi's had an eye on Tina for now. I'm sure she'll be back soon with Brick and Mordy, though. Wouldn't be surprised if they made a little detour to collect her." Maya explained. Of course, why hadn't I thought of that sooner?

"Oh, neat. So what's been going on while I was gone? Any interesting news?" I asked. Lilith shrugged.

"I don't know. There are some interesting things, but I'm not really sure what to make of them. Anyway, we found Athena. She's living in Hollow Point with her girlfriend, Janey Springs. Springs is a mechanic, I think Scooter is planning to hand over some of his garages to her, because he doesn't have enough time to take care of all of them anymore. It looks like Athena's been laying low, taking on some mercenary work, nothing that's in any way high profile. I'd say she's hiding, but we're not entirely sure if she's hiding from us or from Hyperion." Lilith said.

"Huh. Okay. And Brick, Mordy and I are supposed to get her?" I asked.

"Yeah, some combination of you guys. I'm not sure if now is the best time, though, there seems to be something else going on. It seems like Hyperion is going to stay in orbit for a while, I'm not sure why exactly. They seem to be trading with some group down here on Pandora. There have been rumours of another Vault Key, we're trying to find out what that's all about at the moment."

"Another Vault Key? That's... odd. I mean, you'd think after two Vaults, a planet would run out of them, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, well, that's what we've got until now. I still haven't found a safe way to bring the city back down on the ground and I think people are coming to terms with that. So that's some good news." Lilith said.

"Now, your turn. How was Artemis? What did you do? How much did you win and how did you get your leg so quickly? I wanna know everything!" Maya added, pulled up a chair and sat down, waiting for me to tell a story.

"It was good. Different. I honestly don't know where to start. We won a good bit, enough to cover our travel costs, the leg and the operation and we still have a nice bit left over. I bought a bunch of new clothes at a street market, it was dirt cheap. I met Mordy's mum. I met my own daughter. Got in a few shootouts. It was pretty eventful, to be honest." I said. Lilith and Maya looked at each other, then back at me.

"Just start at the beginning." Lilith said.


	23. Chapter 22 or Back In Shape

_Songs: Champion - No Heaven; The Last Internationale - We Will Reign_

The sun was burning down on me and I was really pushing myself right now, but I knew I could do it. I knew I could run the last few meters all the way until the Fast Travel Station. I was fully aware I had been out running for about half an hour at this stage, but I was getting back on track again with my running schedule.

I had to start slow after my leg had healed enough. And then I had to learn how to use my leg. It wasn't really that much I had to do, but I had to get used to certain movements again, as if my nerves needed a reminder how things worked. It took me maybe about a week to be healed up enough and another week to be able to do all the stuff I used to do with my leg. And now, about a month after we got back, I was out here, running again and improving every day.

_"You gonna be back soon?"_ I heard Mordecai's voice from my ECHO device. I had been taking a little longer than usual, but that was only because I increased the distance I was running.

"On my way, almost back at the Fast Travel station." I said quickly while panting heavily. The heat really wasn't helping.

_"Okay, see you in a bit."_

"Is anything up?"

_"Nothing much. Found some stuff on my brother, Tina's bored and I think Lilith is tapping into some ECHO transmission or something, but she doesn't wanna tell me what it is. Wants to wait for you. Oh yeah, and Salvador's making breakfast for everyone and I know you wouldn't wanna miss that."_

"Oh damn..." I mumbled and sped up a little. I could already see the Fast Travel station ahead of me. I really didn't wanna miss Salvador's breakfast. Sometimes he was in the mood for cooking and he made the biggest, most elaborate and most delicious breakfasts ever.

"Mordy, I'm gonna be there in 5, okay? I'm getting to the Fast Travel station now." I told him, just as I ran up to it. I stopped when I got to it, breathing heavily. Sometimes I wondered why I liked torturing myself. But then I looked down and saw my legs being in a better shape than ever before and I knew exactly why.

_"See you soon, chica. I'm gonna head to Zed's and get some supplies, so I might not be there when you get to HQ." _Mordecai said as I hammered the code for Sanctuary in the Fast Travel Station.

I was really out of breath from all the running I had done this morning. Sweat was dripping down my temples and my neck and I felt like I would faint any moment now. But I didn't. I initiated Fast Travel after taking a few deep breaths.

It was pretty noticeable that the Fast Travel Stations weren't really being maintained on Pandora. After having the ones in Artemis, it was pretty obvious that they were old and outdated. Fast Travel felt weird on both planets, but it was a much smoother experience on Artemis.

Once I had my sense of orientation back I made my way towards HQ. I really didn't want to miss one of Salvador's breakfasts, it was a pretty rare occasion. But I also really needed a shower, because I was drenched in sweat and it was pretty gross, to be honest. I stepped into HQ, nodding at Tannis who didn't even notice me, because she seemed busy analyzing something.

"Is that you coming up the stairs, Nova?" I heard Lilith shout at me as I had made it halfway up the stairs.

"Yup, why?" I replied and walked upstairs a little faster. When I got up to the room, Lilith was bent over the ECHO console, looking like something interesting was going on. I walked over to her.

"Listen to this." she said without looking up, as I approached her. I looked down at the console. It looked like she was tapping into an ECHO transmission between Helios Station and some place on the surface of Pandora. The name of the nearest Fast Travel station seemed to be "World of Curiosities". I had never even heard of the place, so that was kinda odd.

_"Why are you trying to screw me on this?"_ an angry voice said. I looked at Lilith, raising an eyebrow. What was going on here?

_"Oh, fine. Just wait there, okay? I can only be down... if it's gonna be ten million dollars, I'm gonna need another hour or two."_ the same voice said shortly after. Ten million dollars? That was a lot of money.

_"Ten million dollars in an hour or we don't have a deal."_ another voice said.

_"Okay. Yeah, I'll be there in a bit."_

_"We can't go anywhere transporting... this. It's too dangerous."_

_"Well, then just stay there. It's a tourist shop, right? Buy a mug or something."_

_"I'll have to let my mother know-"_

_"Sure, sure, sure. Okay. Say hi to your mom."_

That's when the connection was ended abruptly. What the hell was going on and since when did Pandora have a fucking tourist shop?

"Okay, you're gonna need to update me on stuff. What did I just hear and why is it important?" I asked.

"There are some people down here who are allegedly making a deal with Hyperion for a Vault Key. Now, I don't know where they got it from or what they're going to do with it, but I heard of the guys who are selling it." Lilith replied.

"We're going to get the Vault Key, before they get to it?" I wanted to know. She shook her head.

"No. We should wait and see what's going on. I'd rather take it off the Hyperion guy buying it than of the guys selling it. If we're going to take it at all. If it's even legit. I'm not sure yet, but I told Tannis to run some scans. Zero's out there, trying to find out some more about all this." she said.

"Okay. Where is this place even? I've never heard of it."

"Out in the badlands. You remember Shade? That guy out in Oasis? I think I can make out his ECHO signature in that place."

"What's Shade doing there?"

"What's Shade doing where?" a voice behind Lilith and me asked. I jumped a little and turned around, looking into Mordecai's face.

"Okay, okay, from what I've gathered, Hyperion is trying to buy a Vault Key from some guy named August. He's Vallory's son. The deal is supposed to happen at the World of Curiosities and Zero is there right now to check things out. That's all I know. Tannis is checking if the Vault Key is actually legit, if... if she can manage to do that from the little data we've gathered. It seems like some people from Hollow Point are involved in this, too, and I have a feeling this whole thing is gonna lead us to Athena." Lilith explained. Mordecai and I looked at each other.

"Okay. This all sounds pretty confusing. Are you... are you sure this is gonna get us somewhere?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I just need some breakfast and then I can make sense of this. Zero should hopefully report back soon, so maybe he'll have an update for us. There is a whole lot more involved in this, too, but I'm starving, so let me tell you about this later. Let's go down, I think Salvador's ready to feed us." Lilith said.

"Sounds good to me. What does a lot more mean?" Mordecai wanted to know, as we made our way downstairs. I could already smell the fried rakk egg and the bullymong bacon. There was probably even some skag meat and fried spiderant bits. Salvador usually made some mushrooms with all that, as well. I would kill for that breakfast, even if I had the choice between an Aquatorean and a Pandoran breakfast.

"Well, in short it's this: There was a secret Atlas project called the Gortys project, which supposedly has a Vault map in it. Moxxi knew some stuff about it, so she is currently telling Zero where to go. The whole Vault Key deal is something we found out about by coincidence, but since it's on the way, Zero is there right now to check it out. Then he'll go and try to find the Gortys project, so we can make sense of our own Vault 's a pretty convoluted situation, to be honest. But Zero and Moxxi are focusing on the Gortys project while we are all trying to get to Athena, that's the general consensus at the moment." Lilith said.

"Lil, you sound like you have no idea what you're talking about yourself." I replied. She sighed and shook her head.

"This girl needs a break. Come on, Lilith, sit down and eat something." I heard Salvador say, as he came out of the backroom with a couple of plates full of breakfast.

"This looks delicious, Sal. Thanks for making breakfast." I said to him.

"De nada, chica. You need that protein after running." he replied and handed me a plate full of all kinds of Pandoran delicacies.

"Thanks, Sal. I might really need a break. Somehow it's been more stressful dealing with having nothing to do, than actually doing things." Lilith said and started gulping down the food.

"He's right, Lil, you're taking way too much responsibility and I don't like it." Mordecai agreed, looking worried.

"I'm fine, guys, stop worrying about me. I'd rather have stuff to do than not." she replied with her mouth full of scrambled egg.

"You do look pretty stressed out..." I told her and she was about to protest when her ECHO device started beeping.

"What's up, Zero?" she asked, after quickly gulping down the food in her mouth.

_"The Vault Key is fake / time to move onto Gortys / will update later."_


	24. Chapter 23 or Race Cars

_Songs: __Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Ain't No Easy Way; Los Tiki Phantoms - Góndola; Dick Dale - Miserlou_

"Be careful, okay? And take care of Tina." Mordecai said while I was working on one of Scooter's runners. I found that I had started to be less pessimistic about everything and had thrown myself into all kinds of activities lately. Maybe I just felt better now that I was fully used to the new leg and didn't have any pain in my leg anymore. Maybe it was that I knew I could leave Pandora and go elsewhere easily on cargo ships, if I needed to. Maybe it was all the self confidence I had gotten from the competitions on Artemis. Maybe it was finally meeting Anouk. Who knew.

Whatever it was, I was ready to recklessly go into one of the Pandoran races. I was good at driving, I prided myself on my driving skills for 10 years, because I had nothing else to do all day out in the Middle of Nowhere. So after hanging out with Scooter for a good while, we figured we should do a race.

So here I was, fixing up some last bits, checking that everything worked. Scooter rolled out from under the car and grinned at Mordecai.

"Don' you worry, now, Nova here's a good driver, she knows what she's doin'. This is gon' be awesome!" he replied.

"He's right." I agreed and pointed at Scooter. Mordecai was shaking his head and sighed, before smiling at me.

"There's so many ways to die on this planet, I'll never understand why you'd choose something like a car race." he said.

"I won't die!" I protested and laughed.

"You better not die!"

"Let me tell you a secret." I said with a grin and beckoned him closer. He came closer until I could whisper into his ear.

"I never die."

"That's my line." Mordecai replied and just shook his head.

"Well, don't worry. I'll be careful and we'll take care of Tina, too. I mean this isn't Bossanova's death race or something. Everything will be fine." I told him. He sighed again. It was clear he'd rather have me stay out of dangerous activities, but he also full well knew it wouldn't go down well with me if he mentioned it. I knew he was scared and I tried to play things as safe as possible, but we were back on Pandora, so safe wasn't really an option anymore.

"That's not very reassuring, but fine. I guess I'll have to let you go. How long until the race starts?" he asked.

"I dunno... twenty minutes? Ten?" I answered and shrugged.

"Hey Tina! Come over here, they're starting soon!" Mordecai shouted. It didn't take long until Tina came running over, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Nuh uh, ain't no one startin' without me. Ain't that right, auntie?" she said and gave me a smug look.

"Right as rain, girl." I agreed.

"We almost ready, ladies!" Scooter shouted from under the car. Mordecai gave me a quick kiss.

"Promise you'll be careful." he said.

"I will. See you later." I replied and got into the car and ready to drive, adjusting all my mirrors and controls.  
"Hey, Tina!" Mordecai called. Tina, who had jumped into the car already, looked up at him, as she prepared some grenades.

"What up?" she asked.

"Careful, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful and won't die, yada yada yada." she replied and rolled her eyes, before getting back into her gunner seat. Scooter rolled out from under the car and hopped into the passenger seat next to me.

"Well. Good luck out there, I guess." Mordecai said and turned around to leave the garage, as we started up the car.

"Hey, Mordy! Love you!" I shouted over the noise of the engine.

"Love you, too, chica."

With that he walked out and Tina, Scooter and I were left to our own devices. I checked my ECHO device. It was high time we made our way to the start line, because the actual race would start soon.

"Everyone ready?" I asked as I turned on the engine. It didn't exactly make a healthy sound, but I knew that was because Scooter and I had tweaked it to do the maximum speed the car could handle. I really hoped we didn't miscalculate anything and explode the car out there. That would be awkward.

"Ready!" Tina shouted.

"Ready. This is gon' be fuuuuuuuun!" Scooter added to that. I grinned and drove out of the garage and towards the start line. I could see about five other teams in the race, most of them hodunks, some of them bandits. The route was pretty clear for Pandoran standards and barely involved any dangerous obstacles.

"And now it's time for what you've been waiting for: the Hodunk kickoff race for this year! Whoever is the first to do five laps wins the mystery box!" someone announced over a loudspeaker. There was a woman standing on a pedestal, holding a massive flag. She was scantily clad, but it seemed to be the norm at races.

"I wants the mystery box, I wants the mystery box, I wants the mystery box!" Tina was chanting from the back of the car. I got ready to start driving and speed up as quickly as I could.

"Patsy up here will give the start signal... best of luck!" the announcer said. I looked up at the woman waving the flag.

"Ah, sweet Patsy." Scooter said with a dreamy smile on his face.

"You know her?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's my cousin." Scooter answered.

"Ah." I said, not asking any further. Whatever was going on between Scooter and Patsy, I probably didn't want to know. I kept my eyes on her waving the flag, a fake smile pasted on her face. She swung it a few more times until she quickly lowered it. That was the signal to start.

"Go, go, go, go, GOOOOOO!" Tina shouted immediately, as I put my foot down on the gas pedal. We took off pretty slowly compared to the rest of the cars, but Scooter and I had been working tirelessly to make sure we were able to accelerate fast. I quickly shifted into second, third and fourth gear. There were about 4 cars behind us, the other five in front of us. I tapped on my ECHO device.

"Tina, you know what to do." I said. It was way too loud for me shout it up to her, so we figured it would be best to just use the ECHOs.

_"I GOTCHA, GUUUUUURL!"_ Tina screamed into her ECHO device. It didn't take long until we could hear an explosion behind us and soon after another one. Looked like Tina had done a great job with her homemade grenades.

"WOOOOHOOOOOOO!" Scooter shouted as I shifted into the last gear and as we were getting closer to the car in front of us. We quickly overtook them and they didn't look happy about it.

"Tina, I think you better hold on tight or do something about the guys behind us. They don't look happy." I told her.

_"On it, sis."_

"Maaaaan, we'll end up being the only ones still in the race if Tina keeps on throwin' bombs left, right and center like that!" Scooter shouted, sounding suspiciously excited about blowing up our opponents.

"That's kinda the point, isn't it?" I asked Scooter, as I overtook another one, almost losing control of the car in one of the more dangerous bends in the road (if you could really call it a road, even).

"Sure is!" he replied and screamed something unintelligible at the car we were passing. We were on the third position now which was when I actually had to focus. From now on, the only way we could still overtake people was by maneuvering smartly or by throwing grenades at them.

The thing about the grenades was that they'd also be thrown at us, so that kind of added to the difficulty of the whole situation. It was Scooter's job to have a look out for anyone who was trying to kill us in the race, but he seemed preoccupied with having fun while Tina was in the gunner seat, shooting and throwing grenades.

"Scooter! Focus! We're on third position, there's a couple people left that might try and kill us now!" I shouted at him.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot. Sorry!" he replied. I sighed and quickly glanced at my many mirrors. Looked like there was someone closing in on us from the back, but he had to slow down for the next bend. We were also getting dangerously close to the next car in front of us. I really hoped Scooter was keeping an eye on them.

"Grenade directly in front of us!" he suddenly screamed. I swore under my breath and moved the car to the side, but not without losing some momentum and almost losing control and crashing us.

_"The other guys are coming up close behind us and I ain't got too many grenades left!" _Tina announced over the ECHO.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Just shoot them, Tina, okay?" I answered her.

_"Roger that."_

The next thing we heard was rapid fire from the machine gun mounted on top of the car. Hopefully Tina knew what she was doing there, I got the feeling she was just wildly shooting all over the place.

After a good while of that we suddenly heard a loud bang and the sound of a massive explosion following that. Some car must have blown up close to us, because I could even feel the heat and some of the pressure from the blast. It almost pushed me off the road and right into a massive rock.

_"Got 'em."_

"How many are left, guys?" I wanted to know. There were quite a few cars that had exploded at this stage, so I was wondering whether there might not even be that many left. We might be lucky and win some cash without even finishing the race.

"Uh... One, two... GRENADE!" Scooter screamed suddenly.

"Fuck, where?"

Scooter didn't even answer. All I could feel was an enormous heat and the car being pushed off the road quickly by a massive pressure wave.


	25. Chapter 24 or Vague Plans

_Songs: Temples - Shelter Song; ACDC - Girls Got Rhythm_

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Mordecai, Lilith and Brick looking at me. I yawned and blinked quickly, before carefully sitting up. I was in one of the bunk beds in Sanctuary and I had no idea how I got here.

"The fuck happened?" I asked.

"You guys exploded." Lilith answered with a deadpan expression.

"Did we actually?"

"Not really. The grenade exploded right in front of you, so you got lucky. You were, however, pushed off the road and landed upside down." Mordecai explained. Huh. That's why everything hurt (except my new leg).

"Fuck. Did we win?" I wanted to know. There was a slim chance enough cars exploded before we did and we managed to get something.

"You came in third." Lilith told me.

"It was awesome!" Brick added with a grin. I grinned back at him and held my hand up for a high five.

"It probably was, Brick. It probably was." I said.

"It WAS awesome. TOTALLY awesome! We got third thanks to me blowin' up them other cars." I heard a voice from a little further away. It was Tina. I could see her sitting in front of the monitors in HQ, as I moved to the side a little.

"Damn, good job, Tina! You okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine. Damn fine."

"Of course you are."

"The real question is, are you okay?" Mordecai wanted to know, looking more worried than ever.

"I dunno, I think so? My... everything hurts, but apart from that I'm fine. How long was I out?" I replied.

"About a day."

"Oh shit. What happened? Any news? Anything on Athena or Aurelia? Where the hell is Scooter? Is he okay?"

"Don't worry, you didn't miss much." Brick answered.

"I heard nothing from Gaige or Axton yet, except that they're alright. Scooter was fine, except for a few scratches. He headed off to see some other race today and then he's going to hand over one of his workshops to someone else or something. Didn't really ask too much about it." Lilith said.

"Cool, cool. He said something about how it's getting a bit much handling all of his little workshops. What race is he off to?"

"I dunno, something Death something?" Lilith answered.

"Bossanova's Death Rally." Brick said.

"Damn. Okay, I'm jealous. Anyways, I'm really, really hungry, do we have breakfast or something? What time is it?" I wanted to know and sat up more.

"Be careful. You only just woke up, after being knocked out for a whole day from a grenade blast. You probably can't even stomach much food right now." Mordecai said, carefully holding my arm, so I wouldn't fall.

"Pfft, watch me." I replied, almost tripping over my own feet. Mordecai just sighed and rolled his eyes. Sometimes, I was surprised that he was still putting up with me. I mean, let's face it: I was a complete mess. I was dying half the time, I could barely walk and my most valuable contribution to the Raiders was sitting around and eating all their food. Hanging with Lilith. Watching Tina sometimes. I had no idea why I was even still here. With nothing much happening, it was like we were all pretty much obsolete and me most out of all the Raiders. We even got fairly regular supplies now.

"Yeah, let's not try that, chica. Come on. Sit down. I'll get you a glass of water and then we'll see how you feel." he said and carefully sat me down, making sure I wouldn't just fall off the side.

"We were scared you had finally managed to die, you know?" Lilith said as she pulled up a chair beside me.

"Yeah, well, guess I can't even manage to kill myself." I answered with a shrug. I was always hoping Lilith would give me something to do, but these days it usually wasn't the case. There was nothing to do, but wait and see.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't. Looks like Athena's been out and about in Hollowpoint lately. Looks like things are moving over there." Lilith told me. I looked up at her. Was she actually going to give me work?

"Okay... what are you trying to tell me?" I asked.

"She wants you to do stuff, but not yet, but maybe later." Brick answered with an eye roll. He seemed to be tired of doing nothing just as much as I was.

"That right, Lil?" I wanted to know.

"Yeah. Sort of."

"What do you want me to do, but not yet, but maybe later?"

"Okay, so you remember that thing about the Vault Key being fake and all that? Well, it looks like some of the people involved in this have found clues about the Gortys project and are on their way to Old Haven. There's been whispers that Athena is involved with them. Vallory wants to get to them and take the Gortys Project off them, once they got it." Lilith explained. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm following, but where do any of us come in?" I wanted to know. Mordecai just came back upstairs with a glass of water and some tins. I don't think I was ever as happy to see food in my entire life. (That was a lie, I was definitely happier to see food when I came out of the Gulag.)

"Is this about your plan, Lil?" Mordecai asked.

"It is. I know you don't like it-"

"It's not that I don't like it, it's just very... vague."

"Yeah, anyway, it's just a theory. We really don't have much to go on here and it's one of the only good ideas I've had that could get us closer to getting Athena. So anyway, I've been in contact with Vallory and so far she hasn't had any run-ins with Athena, but-" Lilith said before I interrupted her.

"Hold up, so you're really just guessing here? Sounds risky to do that, especially since Vallory could easily be working with Athena. Or she could warn her." I replied. I mean, it sounded like a good idea in theory, but not like a good idea on Pandora. We all knew we couldn't trust anyone.

"I doubt she would. If Athena was with Vallory, they'd already have the Gortys Project. Anyways, she said if she should have any trouble from anyone she'll let us know. Once we get a message from her, you, Brick and Mordy go out and get Athena. That's the plan." Lilith said.

"That is a very vague plan." I replied and took a sip from my glass of water. I was not too surprised that Lilith's plan would be somewhat vague, though. She was great at being a leader for the Crimson Raiders (even though she didn't call herself that), but she wasn't great at thinking her decisions through. None of us were. Roland was, but we didn't have Roland anymore, so we were all just doing stuff and hoping for the best. It really wasn't a wise approach.

"I know it is." Lilith said with a sigh.

"But hell. Let's do it. If it's our best bet, there's hopefully not too much that can go wrong." I added.

"Good. That's the spirit, girl. Now you go back to bed and heal up and all and I'll see if I can get anything out of Zero. He's at that race, too, as far as I know. I have a gut feeling about that." Lilith replied with a smile.

"Sure thing." I said and gave her a thumbs up, as she left the room, probably to talk to Tannis or something.

"You're not gonna go back to bed, are you?" Brick asked with a smug grin on his face, after Lilith had left and was out of ear shot.

"Hell nah." I answered with an equally smug grin. Mordecai was shaking his head.

"Don't encourage her, Brick!" he said.

"Ah, come on, Mordy. She promised not to die and she didn't die. What else do you want?" Brick replied. I opened one of the tins and started snacking away on its contents, while watching this exchange between Brick and Mordecai.

"She could have died, she almost did."

"She's fine. Look, she's eating and talking and walking and all. Doesn't look like she's almost dead to me."

"That's after she was blacked out for a whole day!"

"Yeah, but she's fine again. Aren't you, Nova?" Brick asked me. I blinked, kind of surprised they hadn't forgotten I was in the room.

"I'm perfectly fine, Brick." I replied.

"See? She's fine." Brick agreed. I looked over at Tina and gestured towards the can I was holding.

"Want some of that?" I asked her.

"What's that? Good stuff?" she wanted to know. I glanced down at the label, realizing that I had no idea what I was eating.

"Uh... it's pickles." I said.

"Get that stuff outta my face, young lady!" she told me and went back to whatever she was doing on her screens.

"Aight then. More for me." I mumbled and took a bite off another pickle. Seeing any sort of green food on Pandora was a rare thing (that is food that is SUPPOSED to be green), so a can of pickles was pretty amazing.

"Anyway, Brick, I think we should cut Mordecai some slack for putting up with me and my antics for that long and actually being reasonable and taking care of me. Because I'm truly not very capable at doing it myself." I said.

"You did alright before we turned up." Brick mumbled.

"Barely." Mordecai and I answered at the same time. We looked at each other and started laughing. Some things just never seemed to change.

"So, any plans for the rest of the day or are you actually going to take it easy for now?" Mordecai asked.

"Nah, I'm gonna head out and do some running in a minute. I missed a whole day of it, can't let that happen!"


	26. Chapter 25 or Would You Rather

_Songs: Desert Noises - Dime In My Pocket; The Kills - Bitter Fruit_

"Yeah, but if you had no choice, which one would you rather be locked in with? A skag or a bullymong? And no weapons." I asked. Tina, Brick, Mordecai and I had gotten tired of playing cards and had started a session of "Would you rather?" to pass the time, since nothing ever happened.

"I'd prefer none. Why would I be dumb enough to get locked up with either of them and NOT have a gun on me?" Mordecai replied.

"It's just hypothetical, Mordy."

"Yeah, what she said." Tina agreed with me.

"I think I'd rather be locked up with a skag. Skags can be friendly. Sometimes. When they're puppies. And they're easier to punch when they're not friendly." Brick said. Tina nodded with a pensive expression on her face, as if she was an expert on the topic and was in some sort of scientist expert panel.

"What about you, Tina?" I asked.

"Bullymong. They're fluffier." she answered right away. Brick raised an eyebrow and Mordecai just sighed.

"Tina, you... you know a Bullymong's way more likely to kill you?" Brick said. Tina shook her head.

"Nah, son. Bullymongs are awesome. They'd never try and kill me. Not if I kill 'em first." she replied.

"Tina, that's not how it works. That's not how any of it works." Mordecai told her. He looked like he was done with raising kids for the rest of his life. And to be honest, Tina could be a handful.

"Oh yeah? Then how DOES it work?" Tina replied. Mordecai took a deep breath and was about to launch into a long rant about survival, when the ECHO console started beeping. We all looked at each other. This was unusual. Nothing ever happened, since Jack was gone, so we were surprised someone was calling.

I went over to the ECHO console and saw that it was Scooter calling. From Hollowpoint. Okay, now that was interesting. Athena was in Hollowpoint. Scooter had been at the Death Rally and apparently the people Vallory was after were in that Death Rally. If Lilith was right and all of that was somehow connected, then maybe Scooter just had some news for us. Or maybe he just wanted to chat. Everything was possible at this stage, really.

"Hey Scooter, what's up?" I asked him.

_"Yeah, I might need a lil' help down here..."_ he said and started coughing. That didn't sound good.

"Help with what?" I wanted to know.

_"Bring some health vials, if ya can, aight?"_ he added and then disconnected. I raised an eyebrow at the console for a while, trying to make sense of what I had just heard. Had Scooter gotten in any trouble?

"What was that about?" Brick asked.

"Uh... Scooter said he needs some help. Come on, Mordy, let's go. And take a few health vials." I said quickly. I really needed to get out of HQ, I was bored to death. If I stayed there any longer I'd probably go insane.

"Hey, why ain't we goin'?" Brick wanted to know.

"Well, someone needs to stay in HQ and watch over... stuff." I replied and grabbed Mordecai's hand.

"That cool with y'all? Yeah? Okay, bye, see you soon!" I said and quickly ran down the stairs with Mordecai in tow.

"Alright, alright, we escaped, now what's up with Scooter?" Mordecai asked, once we were outside of HQ and on our way to Pierce Station.

"He said he needs some help and sounded kinda beaten up. That's all I know. Oh, and he's in Hollowpoint, so things might get interesting." I told him. We had reached the Fast Travel Station relatively quickly and I started putting the code for Hollowpoint into the terminal. It wasn't really that popular or the code would have been saved at some stage. Thankfully, I still had Scooter's location on my personal ECHO device.

"You mean the same Hollowpoint that Lil was on about?"

"The very same one." I said, just before we dematerialised and appeared again in a dark and barely lit alley. It felt weird that it was that dark, until things stopped spinning and I remembered that Hollowpoint was literally in a cave.

"Okay, looks like Scooter isn't far from us. Wonder what happened to him."

"Yeah, it's not like Scooter to get into trouble like that. Only thing would be with the Zafords, but he never asks for help with them." Mordecai said and shrugged. It was true, Scooter asking for help without specifics was pretty unusual. When he had beef with the Zafords he'd usually get that sorted himself.

"I guess we'll see. He should be over there." I replied and nodded towards the door of his garage. As we walked in, we saw a caravan standing there. It looked pretty neat, as if it had just been fixed.

"Scooter? You alright?" I shouted.

"Yeah, over here." he replied. We walked around the caravan and saw Scooter leaning on a desk. He looked like he was beaten up not too long ago.

"Oh shit, what happened, Scooter?" I asked and walked over to him. Mordecai handed me a health vial and I jammed in Scooter's veins.

"There were... these two guys... looking for the girls who left the caravan here. The ones that won... the Death Rally." he told us.

"Hold up. Start from the beginning." Mordecai said.

"Okay, so... I was just preparin' all them numbers for the new proprietor an' all, when that chick walks in, lookin' to get her caravan fixed. I recognized the caravan, 'cause I was at the Death Rally and I knew she was the winner. Turns out her prize money was stolen, so I gave her a sponsorship contract and was gonna fix the caravan for her. So her sister comes in an' we get the caravan here an' all and then there's these guys comin' into my workshop, askin' me about 'er and showing me this poster of 'er." he started explaining. Mordecai and I looked at each other. This sounded pretty interesting. Probably didn't have anything to do with Athena, but interesting nonetheless.

"What happened then?" I wanted to know.

"Well, they knew I was hidin' 'em an' I didn't tell 'em anything at all. So they tried to get sumthin' out o' me beatin' me up. But I ain't sayin' nothin'." Scooter answered with a proud smile on his face.

"Where are they now?" I wanted to know. Scooter shrugged.

"I dunno. Told 'em they should lay low for now, they said they had a place to stay for now. So I s'ppose that's where they are. Didn't ask too much, ya know?" he replied. I nodded. Of course he'd try and protect two girls that just turned up on his doorstep. I was wondering who was after them, though.

"You still got the poster around here?" I asked.

"Might be lyin' around somewhere. Hey, thanks for checkin' in and bringin' me the health needle. Didn't have any left myself and I couldn't jus' leave the workshop, ya know?" Scooter said.

"No problem, Scooter, we were bored out of our minds at HQ anyway."

"I found the poster." Mordecai suddenly chimed in. He held up a poster of a young woman with short hair and a pretty distinctive hat on. Her name was apparently Fiona and she was a con artist. That's at least what the poster said, but how true that was, was another question. I had never heard of her before and it seemed like Mordecai hadn't either. We were interrupted by some noise coming from the entrance of the garage.

"Aw, man, is that them again? You guys better hide or sumthin'." Scooter said. Mordecai nodded, as we moved behind one of the many shelves.

"We'll be right here, if you need us, Scooter." I told him quietly.

"Who's there?" Scooter shouted and walked over to the entrance. I looked at Mordecai and shrugged. I had no idea what to make out of all of this.

"Might be worth a shot to see what's going on." Mordecai whispered.

"Guess so."

We looked through the gaps of the shelf and saw two men in the garage. They seemed to be arguing with Scooter about something. One of them was small and was wearing massive glasses, the other one looked like some corporate employee and... oh shit. There was a Hyperion logo on his shirt. Those guys were Hyperion.

"Mordy! They're Hyperion. The fuck are they doing here?" I asked quietly.

"I dunno, but I sure hope they aren't gonna try anything funny." he replied.

"I already told you Hyperion sum'bitches once: BACK OFF." we could hear Scooter shouting at them.

"Ah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. I promise. That's our ride." the tall one said.

"Like hell, man! I know the women who dropped this van off and you sure as crap ain't them!" Scooter replied. I had to hold back a laugh. I had never seen Hyperion guys try to TALK their way out of anything.

"Well, okay, not OUR ride, but-" the small guy started, but was interrupted by a very angry Scooter.

"Bein' Hyperion was your strike one, man. Now you're lyin' to ME? IN MY GARAGE?! That's like, at least 4 or 5 more strikes right there."

"Are you guys trying to steal our van again?" a female voice from further away said. Probably one of the two women Scooter had mentioned. We couldn't see them from where we were and I got the feeling we should probably get out of here soon.

"HA! I knew it." Scooter replied, sounding very happy with himself.

"Ohmygawd, can you please explain to this guy that we're friends?" the tall one said, sounding pretty exhausted.

"No way these girls'd 'sociate with no Hyperion d-bags." Scooter chimed in.

"Oh, okay. Come on - we're not douchebags."

"I know... you're dick bags."

"Friends is a little much. I'd call it what it is." another woman said.

"Which is?" the tall guy asked.

"A temporary alliance."

"Aw, that really hits the heart. I appreciate that, Fiona. These are my temporary allies. Can I get in the damn van, please?" the tall guy said, as he and the other one walked over to the van.

"Alright, well if you say they're with you... I guess I can believe that, man. But if you ladies get in any trouble you just call, alright? Or, y'know, you don't have to be in trouble to call, man. If you just wanna chit-chat, or if you find a restaurant you really like, or... Y'know, way b- but the trouble thing, that too, that too." Scooter babbled on.

"He got you with that?" Mordecai whispered to me. I sighed.

"Oh, shut up, Mordy. Let's not mention how we ended up together, because it's not really much more romantic." I replied.

"Scooter, you are... awesome. This is incredible. You do amazing work." the woman called Fiona said.

"Oh, yeah, thank you. Thank you... haha." Scooter said. As they drove out of the garage an actual loader bot jumped onto the back of the van. How the hell did we not notice that thing before?

"Be sure to stop off at my many Catch-A-Rides if ya need anythin'. I've got 'em poppin' up all over Pandora." Scooter shouted after them. We crawled out of our hiding place and walked out to Scooter. Looked like everything had blown over and we could head back to HQ. I felt a little guilty for leaving Brick and Tina alone for so long.

"You're headin' out, too?" Scooter asked us, as we walked up to him.

"Yeah, you still got paperwork to do and we can't leave HQ alone all night, you know? We might wanna let Lilith know about this, though. She might be interested in what's going on." I told him.

"Yeah, sure. Take care, guys." he said and headed back inside the garage. Mordecai and I walked back towards the Fast Travel Station quickly. I looked back to the garage, because I just got a feeling that there was more to the story than we knew. And when I looked back I saw someone standing on top of the garage.

It was a woman with a hood over her head and something round and glowing on her arm. I nudged Mordecai and gestured towards the roof of the garage. He looked back and just then the silhouette moved away quickly.

"What was that?" I asked.

"That... That was Athena."


	27. Chapter 26 or Meeting Vallory

_Songs: The Kills - Sour Cherry; Royal Blood - Out Of The Black_

It wasn't until a few days later that Lilith showed up in HQ with a scary looking woman in tow. The woman had white hair and was wearing sunglasses and a floor length coat. She looked like she wasn't someone to mess with.

"Who are we lookin' at, Lil?" Mordecai asked, obviously not realizing the aura of authority that had just entered the room.

"These three are the ones who are supposed to get Athena off my back? Seriously?" the woman asked with a raspy voice. Mordecai, Brick and I looked at each other. Who the hell was this?

"Guys, this is Vallory. You remember, I told you about her?" Lilith said. I squinted at the woman. This was Vallory? I don't know why, but I had just imagined her very differently. No idea how I had imagined her, but not like that.

"The lady who's after this Gortys project, is it?" Brick replied.

"Exactly. That's the one." Lilith answered with a sigh.

"Okay, Lil, what do you want us to do? Help her find the project and another Vault? Did you actually find any connection to Athena yet? What's going on?" I wanted to know. Lilith had presented me with so many different theories over the last few days that I didn't really know what the point of this was supposed to be.

"I want the Gortys project for myself and I had it. Until Athena arrived. I need her off my back, so I can open the Vault and get my money's worth out of it." Vallory said, shooting a disapproving look at Mordecai's feet on the table.

"What do we get from it?" Mordecai asked her.

"You get Athena."

"I think what they mean is what they'll get besides Athena." Lilith said. Vallory nodded and smiled a little.

"Ah yes. Of course. There'll be a nice sum in it for you, too." she told us.

"Alright then. So why is Athena after you? Just because of the Vault? I doubt that, I thought she had retired from all that a while ago." Brick said.

"I don't think she's in it for the Vault. She couldn't care less about Atlas or one of their projects. I think someone may have hired her to protect the other people that are after the Vault." Vallory replied and sat down at the table with us, glaring at Mordecai again. He didn't seem to notice. Or he didn't care.

"So who are the other people after the Vault?" I asked, while trying to subtly gesture to Mordecai to take his feet off the table.

"Two Hyperion guys and two girls from Pandora. One of them is wanted for major fraud. The Hyperion guys seem to be small fish and shouldn't be a problem, but the two girls? They're smart. They have a loader bot with them as well, but you should have no problem at all to get rid of one of those, should it come to that." Vallory explained. Huh. That didn't sound like a huge problem at all.

"So Athena's the only one that's giving you actual trouble?" Mordecai asked.

"Exactly. They're all travelling together, so it's difficult to get to the four of them without Athena interfering. That's where you come in. They're currently on their way to an Atlas research facility. It's a huge area and chances are that we might be able to get them to split up there. We get the Gortys Project, you get Athena and your cash and we're even. It's simple, really." Vallory said.

"When are we going?' I wanted to know.

"In an hour. Pack enough ammunition, we have no time to get any of that on the way. If you're out of ammo, you're on your own. You better pack up your things now, before we leave." she told us and got up from her chair.

"See you at the Fast Travel Station in an hour." she added, turned around and walked away. Lilith waited until she was gone until she let out a relieved sigh. She sat down on the chair that Vallory had just gotten up from.

"She is pretty scary to deal with." Lilith said.

"Agreed. She's got an aura." I replied.

"Yeah, something about her just makes you feel really uneasy." Mordecai agreed and shook a little.

"She's one scary lady." Brick mumbled.

"Looks like you'd better pack and get ready, she doesn't mess around." Lilith said, leaning on the table, her head in her hands. She looked really exhausted, as if she hadn't slept in years. Which I knew for sure wasn't true, because from what I knew she'd been sleeping a lot lately.

"You alright, Lil? You look really exhausted." I replied.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just... I don't know. Having to see Athena again and everything has given me a good few sleepless nights. You know there was some stuff that happened back then and it's just been keeping me awake at night. I'll try and get some sleep while you're all gone." Lilith told me.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? If you want someone to stay with you..."

"No, Nova, it's alright. I can manage. Don't worry about me. I'm sure it'll all be better once we get this over and done with."

"Okay, but echo me if you need someone, okay? I'm probably not gonna be a great help there anyway." I said.

"Oh, bullshit! You've won prizes at a sharpshooting competition and survived this planet for 15 years and you survived Jack. You fought a Vault monster, for fuck's sake. Face it, Nova, you're better at this than you might think." Lilith replied.

"Maybe you're right. Still, there is so much going on, it's hard to believe I'm actually being a part of it now. Anyways, I better go and pack up. Not that there is much to pack, anyway." I said with a grin.

"You still didn't look for anything to put in your apartment, did you?" Lilith asked, a small grin forming on her face. I shook my head.

"When would I have done that? I've been away for the last two months and then Mordecai and I just never found the time. And I mean, now we're going away again. I've been thinking of getting a plant or two, but who's gonna take care of them if Mordecai and I are away for a few days and all?" I replied, laughing. It was just such a mundane thing to complain about in a place like this.

"What kinda plant were you thinking of? I doubt you'll find too much on Pandora." Lilith said, shaking her head laughing.

"I don't know. Don't you think I could find some weird desert plants around the place? Dig them up, put them in a pot and bring them home? Might be worth a try at some stage." I replied and shrugged.

"Isn't it terrible we don't even have the time to get a plant on this planet?" Lilith asked dramatically.

"I know, right? A real shame. Anyway, I really need to go and pack up. At least a fresh change of clothes and the ammo I need. I'll talk to you soon, alright? And echo me if you need anything!" I told her.

"Yeah, yeah, will do. Have fun!" she replied, rolling her eyes. I knew Lilith didn't like it when people worried about her, but we all just cared about her. And it was easy to start worrying about her.

"Take care, Lil." I said as I walked out of the room to pack up some of my stuff that I had left by the side of my bunk bed. I had half my stuff at the apartment and the other half at HQ, because I was constantly there either on duty (whatever that meant, nowadays) or being sick.

"Is Lil alright?" Mordecai asked quietly when I entered the next room to pack up my things. I had some clothes and healing hypos here and a few of my guns, but not much else. I'd need to get one of my nicer rifles from the apartment before we'd leave. And maybe a few nice snacks, as well.

"She says she is, but I don't know. She said she's not sleeping well lately. Worried about Athena and all the stuff that went down on Elpis when she was there with Roland. She seems really tired. I'm not sure she's doing well, but if she's not saying anything, there's little we can do." I told him.

"It feels wrong to leave her alone in a state like this." Mordecai answered with a sigh. I nodded.

"I know, I know. I offered that I could stay back with her, but she said she'll be fine. I told her to echo me if she needs anything. That's all we can realistically do for her right now." I said. I felt bad about leaving her behind in that state as well, but what could we do? We couldn't force her to anything.

"Yeah, I guess so. You got everything you need?" Mordecai asked.

"No, I'll have to go back to the apartment for some things. Do we have a plan or something? We both sniping? Or only you?"

"No plan so far. I'll definitely be sniping, but I don't know if we'll both need to yet. Get a good variety of guns, just in case. We might need you for close range. Hell, I don't even know what the area's gonna be like."

"Yeah, I know. You met Athena before?"

"Yeah, but she was on our side then. And I wouldn't wanna be fighting her, but I guess that's what we're doing now. She is pretty dangerous. She's a skilled assassin, trained by Atlas since birth. She's not gonna be an easy target by any stretch of the imagination." Mordecai said.

"Fuck. That sounds bad."

"It is bad."

"Well, seems like we have no other choice right now. We gotta bring Athena to Lilith and hope for the best, I suppose."

"Yeah. See, I can't get two things out of my head. First, you guys worked with Athena a few years ago, didn't you? And she seemed alright. And secondly, Nina also said that Athena was a nice girl. I'm just worried that Lilith will snap at some point and not just question her, you know?"

"I know what you mean. Lilith seems a little volatile lately. But we'll have to get her. We owe it to Pandora to get the whole story and I just hope that there is a reasonable explanation for her involvement in all this and that Lilith will see that it's reasonable when the time comes. That's really all we can hope for." Mordecai said. I nodded. He was right. Of course he was right. We had to stick to Lilith right now, no matter what. She hadn't done anything wrong and just because she seemed stressed and overworked didn't mean we could publicly doubt her.

That would destroy everything we had worked for the past years. We had to stick together as the Raiders, as long as it was somehow feasible. I was just hoping that Lilith wasn't taking on too much here. It seemed like all this might be more than she could handle at the moment, but she didn't even want to take a break. There was really nothing we could do right now, except following her orders.

"You're right. Anyways, let's get the rest of our stuff from the apartment. We don't have much more time to spare. I suppose we can see what we're going to do about Lil once we're out of Sanctuary."


	28. Chapter 27 or Mission Athena

_Songs: The Smashing Pumpkins - Siva; Nine Inch Nails - Wish; Lorde - Everybody Wants To Rule The World_

"I sure hope Brick's gonna be alright. Sounds like a terrible idea, busting through the Dome, grabbing Athena and then bringing her here." I said to Mordecai as we waited for Brick to come to the meeting point with Athena. I had no idea how he was planning on keeping her quiet for that long.

"He's gonna be fine. Hopefully. Looks like those trees might be good vantage points." Mordecai replied and pointed towards the trees surrounding the little clearing. It looked like some of the branches would almost perfectly cover the clearing, especially if Mordecai and I could manage to cover a 90 degree angle.

"Yeah, looks doable. I'm a little disappointed we won't have much time to see this place, because it looks absolutely amazing. Too bad we'll have to leave as soon as we get Athena. I'd say Lil is gonna be ready to set up a war tribunal the minute we echo her. I get the feeling it's gonna be super stressful."

"Yeah. Lil hasn't been in a good mood lately. But we can worry about that later. We need to get Athena first and survive transporting her to Sanctuary. She's gonna try to escape any opportunity she gets."

I sighed. I don't know what I expected from this Athena mission, but I just realized I was probably going to end up half dead. Again. It was getting kind of old and I really didn't want to be forced to spend another week in bed, but that was the nature of the job. And I had been pretty keen on going on another mission.

"Yeah. Well. Let's get into position and get ready. Who knows when Brick will turn up with Athena. Could be any minute, really." I said.

"Alright, I'll climb up into that tree and you can go to either side. Sound good?" Mordecai replied.

"Yup, let's go." I answered and shouldered my rifle. Mordecai quickly disappeared in his tree and was completely invisible from where I was standing. As usual, I was amazed by how quick he just disappeared and how fast he climbed up anything, really. I swear, the man was a cat or something.

Just as I had started climbing into my tree, we heard some commotion from the dome. That must be Brick breaking through the glass. Shit. He'd be here soon, hopefully with Athena in tow. I tried climbing up faster and getting into a good, hidden position from where I was. I had to hurry up now.

I quickly grabbed my rifle from behind my back and loaded it, getting ready and finding a stable stance, so the recoil wouldn't actually push me off the branch I was standing on. I looked through my scope, carefully surveying the area below me. Perfect. I could get a good view of almost the whole clearing and the few spots I wasn't able to see should be perfectly visible from Mordecai's vantage point.

Now we had to wait for Brick to arrive. The plan was that he would burst through the Dome, use the surprise effect and grab Athena and then run off with her, hopefully being able to keep her under control until he got here, where we could help out, if we needed to. Mordecai was mostly sniping and as long as there were no problems, I'd be his support. But I was prepared to digistruct a few other guns from the camp and use them close range if I needed to.

Just as I finished checking all the digistruct codes and the sensors in my legs, we could hear some angry screaming and heavy footsteps approaching. I looked out over the treetops and could see Brick running towards the clearing, a woman running ahead of him with a big shield on her arm. Athena.

They had made it to the clearing and Athena stopped and turned around. She looked angry. Really, really angry. Brick just came running at her, but she didn't flinch and that was a really bad sign. Someone who didn't flinch when Brick came running at them full speed wasn't afraid of anything.

"Face me!" she shouted at him as he came running at her. She caught Brick's punch with her shield. It pushed her back a good bit, but she didn't even seem to be hurt from it. This would be tougher than expected.

The two of them started exchanging punches and kicks and anything else in quick succession. It was almost impossible to follow them. But it seemed like Brick had the situation somewhat under control.

"Brick, if you need help, give us a shout." I echoed him, just in case. I knew he was busy fighting, but he definitely heard it. He knew we were standing by and just waiting for a sign from him, if he needed help.

"This ain't personal, Athena!" Brick shouted as he turned around under a tree stump and ran at Athena who had pulled out her sword and was still wearing her shield. The way this was going, it would be about who'd tire out first.

"It never is." Athena replied, as she moved out of the way and threw her shield at Brick. It hit him right in the guts. I flinched a little when I saw how he was pushed back a good bit. That thing must hurt.

Just when Brick came to a halt, Athena had managed to catapult herself up in the air and charge at Brick with her sword and Brick just barely managed to not get hit and push her away from him. Athena launched a few more attacks at him, until they were just standing opposite each other and eyeing each other suspiciously. Brick tried to fake an attack, but Athena didn't fall for it.

"I don't wanna kill you, girl!" he shouted at her. She promptly replied by trying to stab him with her sword.

"That is not a risk." she said.

"Mordy, this doesn't look like it's going too well. You wanna help out Brick or wait?" I echoed him.

_"Waiting for the right moment to get a clear shot, but I'm on it."_ Mordecai echoed back. I took a deep breath. Maybe if we managed to get a shot at one of Athena's arms, she'd be weakened enough for us to get her.

"Turn away and I'll let you live!" Athena said to Brick. That is when I heard a shot from the bushes opposite me. I looked through the scope of my rifle trying to see where it came from, but all I could see was one of the plant pods bursting.

"Man, you got mean!" Brick shouted as he dodged one of her attacks. And then I saw her. A girl with short hair, kinda familiar, holding a small handgun and aiming at another one of the plant pods. What was she trying to do?

Brick raised his fist for an attack, but all of a sudden the flower opened and literally gulped up Brick's hand. What the actual fuck? Was that what the girl was doing? Damn. I didn't even know those plants could do that.

"Mordecai, we've got a second person here, she's hiding behind the trees and bushes opposite me. Got a tiny handgun and just shot those plant pods, so Brick's stuck now." I echoed.

"Athena!" the woman suddenly screamed and ran out of her hiding place while Brick tried to get unstuck. She looked oddly familiar, I could have sworn I had seen her before somewhere. Just as I was thinking that I heard the familiar sound of Mordecai's sniper rifle. I watched as Athena realized what was happening and put up her shield. The bullet got reflected off that. Damn. I had to admit, that were some amazing reflexes. No wonder she was one of the most dangerous assassins.

"Sniper! Get down!" she shouted and the other girl ran off hiding again.

"Get into cover and find his position! NOW!" Athena added. Goddamnit. She was hiding behind some bushes and I couldn't get a clear shot at her. I tried anyways, but it was no good. And then she was gone, disappeared out of my field of vision. Maybe it was time to try and get Athena again. Mordecai had been trying to get a good hit on her, but she was just too fast.

"Mordy, she's out of view, watch out, alright?" I echoed him, while I kept trying to get Athena. It was a near impossible task. That's when I saw the girl coming out from her cover and pulling out her handgun, pointing it at Mordecai's position. Before I could do anything, I could hear a shot and she fell to the ground. I didn't hear anything from Mordecai, so I figured she probably missed him.

That was until I saw some of the weird floating jellyfish creatures turning red. Shit, shit, shit. She hadn't missed, she'd hit exactly what she wanted to hit. That was pretty smart. I saw Mordecai jump out of cover, since he couldn't hold his position anymore. He did not look happy.

The other girl seemed to think her job was done, because she ran off, trying to get to Athena and Brick, who was still stuck. I was trying to keep Athena too busy to get a good hit at Brick by focusing my efforts on her. It seemed to work, at least somewhat. As I reloaded my rifle I quickly glanced over to Mordecai and saw him pull out a pistol. He did not look happy. The girl seemed to have noticed, too, since she turned around with a frightened expression on her face.

"I don't know you, but you really oughta run. This is Vault Hunter business. Ain't no reason for you to get caught in the crossfire. 'Less you're holdin' a lot of sweet loot, anyway." Mordecai said with a chuckle, while the girl kept walking backwards and closer to Athena and Brick.

"I AM a Vault Hunter." the girl replied, which made Mordecai laugh instantly.

"Alright. Whatever you say." he answered with a shrug. The girl and Athena exchanged a glance, as she was now standing directly beside her. Brick started laughing and then screamed as he tried again to pull his fist out of the flower. He didn't manage that, but he managed to rip out the entire plant and was swinging it at the two women now. Athena got away, but the other girl was thrown to the ground.

Brick got rid of the flower - finally - and was joined by Mordecai. Looked like we would move soon. There was definitely no need for me to keep sniping. I shouldered my rifle and tapped one of the sensors on my leg to digistruct my shotgun, before I quickly climbed down the tree.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun." I heard Athena say, while Brick was laughing maniacally. It was pretty quiet for a second and I waited in the bushes until my shotgun had fully digistructed, but then all hell broke loose. Athena hurled her shield at Mordecai who dodged it while Brick was running full speed at the other girl, grabbed her legs and flung her over the trees, almost hitting me on my way to them.

The girl landed against some orange glass, which shattered at the impact. Mordecai gestured at me to follow him and we made our way over there. The girl was lying there, moaning from the pain, and I actually felt kinda sorry for her. But well, she was trying to kill us, so that kind of settled the whole matter. Mordecai held up his pistol and aimed at the young woman. She was frantically trying to roll out of the way.

"Hey, nothing personal, lady. I promise." he shouted over the shots he fired. I loaded up my shotgun, as Athena suddenly jumped in front of her and held up her shield. She looked pretty pissed.

"That was close!" the woman shouted, as she finally managed to get up. I stepped out through the broken glass as well.

"Oh no. This is gonna be bad." Athena said, shaking her head, as I aimed at my shotgun at her, when I suddenly heard Brick screaming.

"Here comes the pain train! WOO WOO!"

With those words he ran through the broken glass and straight at the two women standing there. I looked over at Mordecai, but he just shrugged and kept firing at Athena. I started shooting at her as well, but she caught every shot with her shield. The other girl seemed to have come out of her shock and ran forward, grabbed something from the floor and came straight for Brick.

She stabbed one of his fists with whatever she had picked up and Brick screamed from the pain. As he raised his fist I could see that it was an icicle. I cringed a little inside, imagining how painful that must have been. I fired a few more shots at Athena and then started reloading my shotgun.

Mordecai had stopped shooting as well and as I glanced over I saw that he was reloading, too. This was bad. This was really bad. I looked up and saw Athena hurl her shield at us quickly.

"Watch out, Mordecai!" I shouted as I jumped out of the way. But it was too late. It missed Brick's head narrowly and hit Mordecai right in the ribs. He screamed and clutched his chest as he tumbled backwards. I got up quickly and ran over to him, trying to make sure he was okay. I wouldn't be surprised if he had broken a rib or two from that. As I got to him, he was breathing heavily. I scrambled through my belt pouch and managed to produce a healing hypo.

"Who the hell are you?!" Brick suddenly shouted. I looked over at him and saw him holding onto the other girl as she struggled to get away from him. I heard a shot and Brick screamed and let go of her, as she ran off.

"You shot me in my pinkie toe! Come here!" he shouted and straight up punched her in the face, knocking her out completely. I jammed the health vial into Mordecai's veins and finished reloading my shotgun. We had to somehow get to Athena now, before the other girl woke up again.

It was then that Athena finally took a hit from one of my bullets. It wasn't fatal or anything, but hopefully it would wear her out soon enough. I heard some clinking noises from behind me and as I turned around there was Vallory, balancing a rocket launcher on her shoulder. The girl had woken up as well, it seemed, as she was sitting up now. Once Vallory came in, everything stopped.

She aimed the rocket launcher at Athena first, but when she saw the other girl had gotten up now, she changed her mind and aimed it at her. And she actually pulled the trigger. I could see the shock in the girl's face when she heard the sound.

"Fiona!" Athena shouted as she threw her shield at her. Fiona caught it and was able to save herself from the rockets, even though the blast pushed her back against a tree. It looked like she couldn't believe that she was still alive.

"I never thought of you as the caring type, Athena." Vallory said, now aiming the rocket launcher at Athena. Fiona threw the shield back to Athena, but it was too late. She was hit by the rockets and was thrown back onto the ground. She wasn't moving after that hit. I hoped she was still alive, because Lilith would be pissed if we brought her a dead Athena. Really pissed. Mordecai and I quickly went over to her body, trying to check if she was still alive. Brick was a little slower with his foot being shot.

"NO!" Fiona screamed and looked at the scene in front of her. The poor girl. I really did feel sorry for her, even though she shot Brick's pinky toe. All of a sudden she started screaming furiously and ran at Vallory, pulling out her gun. Vallory just smiled and took the rocket launcher from her shoulder.

Fiona never managed to try and shoot Vallory, as she was throwing her rocket launcher straight at her, resulting in Fiona getting stuck under the heavy launcher, unable to get out from underneath it.

"I'm gonna kill you. You hear me?" she said to Vallory who was now slowly approaching her. Vallory gave her a pitiful look.

"Not today, little girl. Not today." was all she said, as she came over to us. A few more people appeared at the scene, one of them the other girl I had seen at Scooter's garage and the other one the tall Hyperion guy.

"Vaughn? VAUGHN!" the Hyperion guy screamed, apparently looking for someone. It was probably the smaller guy he came with.

"When you have to get rid of a Vault Hunter, just bring in two Vault Hunters." Vallory said to herself.

"You boys got everything?" she shouted at us. I took a deep breath and tried to avoid rolling my eyes at her. She could be really scary, if she wanted to, and after this I definitely didn't want to upset her.

"Yes, Ma'am." Brick said, looking quite annoyed. Mordecai sighed, still in pain from having the shield thrown at him.

"Lilith'll be real happy to see this wretched piece of assassin trash hauled in." he said. Vallory pointed her index finger in his face, making him flinch back a little.

"You needed Athena as much as I needed her out of my hair. I'm glad we were able to help each other out." Vallory said. I looked down at Athena. She looked awful. Her face looked beaten and bruised and she looked pale. Vallory bent down to her with a mocking smile on her face.

"Do you feel that, Athena? Now it's over." she said, then turned around and went off to take care of everything else. Finally, Brick, Mordecai and I could be on our way back to Sanctuary.

"That is one scary lady." Brick commented.

"Quiet, amigo! You want her to hear you?" Mordecai replied quickly, as Brick picked Athena up by her feet and started dragging her along.

"Jesus, Brick, let the poor woman have some dignity! She's not a bounty, she's a war prisoner." I said, as I picked her up under her arms, so we could carry her properly to one of the cars. We would just have to get to the Fast Travel Station and then we'd be done with this job. Finally.

"Nova, are you gonna echo Lil? Brick and I should probably rest for a while. I think we broke a few bones. At least." he said. I nodded and tapped on my ECHO device.

"Hey, Lil. We got her. On our way back now. Get Zed and health vials, Mordy and Brick are pretty beat up." I messaged her. I sighed and jumped into the driver's seat. We were probably lucky to be alive.


	29. Chapter 28 or Athena's Story

_Songs: First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining; The Prodigy - Thunder; billie eilish - COPYCAT_

"Oh my God, are you okay?" was the first thing I heard from Lilith when she met with us at the Fast Travel Station. I nodded.

"We are. Mostly. I'm alright. I think Mordecai broke a few ribs and Brick is badly wounded, too. They're glad they made it out alive." I said to her.

"What about Athena?"

"She's knocked out, but she's alive. Where do you want us to take her?" I asked. Lilith motioned for me to follow her. I went over to Brick so we could carry Athena together. Once we got her where Lilith wanted her, we could go and take care of our wounds. I hoped and prayed Lil didn't have a long march planned.

"We'll question her at the edge of the city. I've got Zed there, as well. He can take a look at you." she said to me and then looked back at Brick and Mordecai.

"Thanks for doing this. I really should have come with you. You guys look pretty roughed up. How are you holding up?" she wanted to know from them. Brick shrugged, dragging his foot behind him.

" 's alright. I can manage." was all he replied. Mordecai was coughing and holding his ribs. I knew he was having trouble breathing, because it hurt his ribs. We really should have taken more people with us.

"Damn it. Mordy? What about you?" Lilith asked. I shook my head.

"Don't, Lil. He can barely breathe. Give him some time to rest." I told her. She sighed and hid her face behind her hands.

"I'm surprised you're not hurt more. I shouldn't have sent you after her on your own. I really hope this will get some results, at least." she said, as we arrived at the edge of the city. A good few Raiders were waiting for us there and quickly took Athena from us to tie her up to a pole.

Watching the whole thing go down seemed pretty cruel right now, but I knew we'd probably all be dead, if Athena was free. Still, I felt horrible bringing her here like that. I didn't even know exactly what she had done. Zed came rushing to her side and injected her with some sort of health vial or whatever it was to wake her up. She moved her head a little and slowly and groggily opened her eyes.

Zed made his way back to us, while Lilith was pacing up and down in front of Athena. She seemed to be pretty impatient about her fully waking up. I went over to Zed who was waiting for us at a ledge by Scooter's workshop. Mordecai and Brick were slowly making their way over there.

"You've got some explaining to do, tiger. Trained from childhood as an Atlas assassin with over a thousand successful jobs to your name. Damn near killed my two best men before they brought you in." Lilith started talking to Athena. She seemed awake enough now and pretty unhappy about her situation.

"She said we're her best men! That makes me feel good." Brick said to Mordecai with a big smile on his face and gave him a pat on the back. A Brick pat. Which was basically a pretty painful smack.

"Ow." was all Mordecai had to say to that, as he coughed and held his chest. I glanced over at Zed who seemed to be looking forward to this.

"Here's how it is, Athena. I'm gonna ask you a single question. And if I don't like your answer, you will die." Lilith said next. What? Was she... was she serious? Lilith looked back at the Raiders.

"Aim at the prisoner." she told them, then turned back to Athena.

"Now, I will ask you this only once... Why?"

"That is a long story." Athena said and sighed. I got up to help Mordecai and Brick sit down, so Zed could have a look at them. Some health vials and some rest should hopefully do the trick, but I was still nervous whenever Zed was involved. I sat down on the ground next to Mordecai, loosely holding his hand while Athena was telling her story.

"After the fall of General Knoxx, I wandered Pandora as a hired gun. One day, I received a job from a low-level Hyperion programmer. 'Come to the moon.' it said. 'Hunt a Vault, be a hero.' I didn't trust Hyperion, but I was too hungry to pass up a paying job." Athena started. Lilith didn't look too happy.

"And what did you find?" she asked.

"Violence. Insanity. And... a hero."

"Continue." Lilith said.

"I and a few other Vault Hunters made the trip up to Helios station. When we arrived there, the station was under attack by Dahl forces. We were greeted by a Claptrap unit who brought us to Jack. He was being attacked by the Lost Legion, so we helped him out. That was when Zarpedon declared the space station as belonging to the Lost Legion. Once we had helped Jack, he told us we could get down to the moon in one of the moonshots. After every other option failed."

"You had no idea why these Dahl guys wanted Jack dead?" Lilith asked. She had finally stopped pacing around and sat down.

"I had suspicions. Money. Revenge. That said, who ever needed a reason out there?" Athena answered.

"This is kind of exciting." Brick chimed in. Mordecai nodded.

"Yeah. Our story just began with us getting off a bus. This sounds all explosive and stuff." he agreed.

"Stop complimenting the prisoner." Lilith told them and rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, we got into the moonshot and Jack stayed behind because it had to be operated manually." Athena continued, but was interrupted by Lilith again.

"You're telling me Jack - Handsome Jack, the guy who MURDERED my boyfriend - stayed behind while you escaped?"

"Like. Hell." Mordecai commented.

"Whether his decision was heroic or purely strategic, I can't say. But if Jack hadn't stayed behind to eject the pod, I might well have died on Helios." Athena said.

"Pfft. Your story is making Handsome Jack kinda sympathetic. I hate it." Brick replied, shaking his head.

"Well, that's how it happened. We got shot down to the moon. The plan was for us to land in Concordia, but something went wrong and we ended up out in the wilderness. We were found by someone, though." Athena continued. She smiled a little when she mentioned that someone.

"And who was that?" Lilith asked.

"Janey Springs, she... she worked as a mechanic on Elpis. She found us and helped us survive. She told us that we'd need a vehicle to get to Concordia and in order to get one we needed to get back her digistruct key from a guy called Deadlift. On our way there Zarpedon contacted us, telling us to leave the planet, because she didn't want to kill us or something. Of course we wouldn't just leave, so she told Deadlift to kill us. He did try just that after Zarpedon told him we thought jump pads are stupid. Said he wanted to crush us with a butt slam or something." Athena said, rolling her eyes.

"Heh. I like this guy." Brick commented.

"Because of the jump pads or because of the butt slam?" I asked.

"Both."

"He had disabled his jump pads, so we had to fix them to get to him. We managed to do it with Janey's help." Athena continued her story.

"You got to ride jump pads?" Mordecai asked, as if he'd lost all will to live knowing he missed the opportunity to use a jump pad.

"I never got to ride a jump pad." Brick chimed in as well. Athena gave them an incredulous look.

"I also witnessed the deaths of many innocent people." she deadpanned.

"But... jump pads, though." Brick replied with a shrug.

"Would you let her continue with her story? I'm actually enjoying hearing about this, guys." I said.

"We killed Deadlift, got the digistruct key and managed to get ourselves a vehicle. We drove back to Springs' garage to get something else she told us we needed to get into Concordia when Jack contacted us again. He told us that he was still alive and that he was hiding from Zarpedon, so we needed to go to Concordia and find her jamming signal. When we got back to Janey's she gave us an Orbatron which would get us into Concordia, so that's where we went next." Athena told us. She stopped talking, because she had to cough. I looked over to Lilith, but she didn't seem to be in an agreeable mood at all.

"I'll go and get a glass of water, be right back." I mumbled.

"What? Why?" Lilith asked.

"Lil, the poor woman hasn't had anything to drink in a whole day. She's been hit by a rocket blast and now you want her to talk for ages? Come on. She's our prisoner, but you can damn well let her have some basic commodities." I answered and turned back to get some water from Scooter's garage. It was the nearest place and I knew Scooter was probably in Hollowpoint dealing with his workshop there. I'd just repay him later.

I grabbed a few bottles of water, and came back outside. Athena had been telling them how they got into Concordia and about the Meriff. I went up to her and kind of awkwardly held the bottle up to her lips. We somehow managed not to spill a whole lot of water. All the while I could feel Lilith glaring at me. Athena gave me a grateful nod and I went back to sit beside Mordecai while she continued her story.

"Lil looks like she might have a word with you after this is all over." he said to me. I just shrugged.

"She's been angry with me before. There's nothing wrong with what I did, even if Athena was the worst of the worst." I replied.

"Jack mentioned there would be someone else that could help us and we'd find her in the Up Over bar. We went there and that's where we met you and... Roland. But you didn't want to help out with the jamming signal, so we had to go to Moxxi." Athena explained next. Lilith sighed and started pacing again.

"She told us to find the source of the signal by triangulating transmitters. We got the transmitters from a guy at the black market. We placed them all on the roofs of some of the buildings in Concordia. Moxxi traced the signal back to an old Dahl facility, so that's where we were headed next. We had to get out through some secret exits and get to a place called Triton Flats. When we got there, Zarpedon first started using the... the Eye of Helios. She was trying to blow up the moon. We had to go through a whole initiation rite and whatnot to get into the place. Once we shut down the jamming signal - with some more difficulty of course - we found out that the Meriff had been working for Zarpedon all along. Jack told us to meet him in Concordia, so we could see what was going on."

"Of course he would be. Okay, how did you get there, though?" I asked. I had asked myself this question many times, but here I was, again wondering why everyone on Pandora (or Elpis) was just completely insane.

"Earlier, we had found a... rather intimate recording that involved the Meriff and one of Moxxi's bots and... anyway, we blackmailed him with it. Sort of. We went to the custom Claptrap unit and showed him the recording. He was outraged and got us into the Meriff's office. Jack went and talked to the Meriff, confronting him about the signal. The Meriff confessed he was working with Zarpedon and Jack was ready to let him go." Athena said and looked down for a second.

"He was just gonna let him go?" I asked. That seemed odd. Why would Jack do that? He didn't seem like the type to just let someone go.

"The Meriff tried to shoot Jack in the back, but he missed and then... Jack just lost it. He lost it and killed the guy. And I think he realized then that he enjoyed it. He started making a plan to get back to Helios and take down Zarpedon which involved building a robot army. So that was the first step. He sent us to Springs to find out where we could get an AI to run his army and Moxxi was going to contact some people she knew about finding hardware. Turned out that those people were Lilith and Roland."

There was a long silence after she said that. Lilith had shortly stopped pacing around, but soon started again. The more Athena talked, the more it seemed like no one really was at fault here.

"What's you think of Jack, when you first met him, Lil?" Mordecai asked, breaking the silence.

"Considering he was the guy that Moxxi left you for? I didn't like him." she answered and sped up her pacing.

"You don't like anybody." Mordecai replied and laughed a little. It seemed the healing hypos Zed had given him helped with the pain.

"I like Brick." she said and gestured towards him. Brick grinned broadly.

"Booyah!" he replied laughing. I noticed someone approaching our little group. It was Tina, she probably only just heard that we were back. She looked pretty annoyed that no one had told her earlier, but since Athena had resumed her story, she kept quiet for now and sat down next to Brick.

"We went to see Springs about the AI, but she couldn't help us. She sent us to a guy named Pickle. Was a nightmare to get there, really. Difficult to find and far from any Fast Travel Station. Zarpedon offered us a deal to leave the planet. She said she'd send us an interstellar ship and wouldn't follow us, if we agreed to leave."

"Pretty good deal. Why didn't you take it?" Lilith asked her.

"What do you think we were? A bunch of mustache-twirling villains? Jack hired us to kill bad guys, get paid, and help people. No different from y-"

"You say you're anything like us and I'll kill you where you stand!" Lilith practically hissed at her. Everything was quiet, until Tina cleared her throat to get some attention from everyone else.

"Konnichiwa, errbody! Wanna play another round of Bunkers and Badasses?" she asked. I raised my eyebrow at Mordecai.

"Not now, Tina." Lilith said and continued her nervous pacing.

"Oh right. Serious time. My bad." Tina mumbled.

"While we were on our way to Pickle, Roland found some old Dahl factories that might have the hardware we'd need for our robot army. So they were going to check that out while we organized that AI. It took us a good while, but we finally found Pickle. Turns out he was a young kid, but according to Janey he knew what he was doing. He told us we could find an AI on the Drakensburg, an old Dahl war ship. We needed to use a few detours, but we managed to get into the wreck. I think it was around that time that Jack got fired. Which didn't stop him from anything, really, so it didn't stop us from looking for that AI. The people running the Drakensburg wreck were called the Bosun and the Skipper. After we fought off the first wave of the Bosun's men, the Skipper contacted us, telling us that she was held prisoner and wanted us to rescue her. In exchange she would get us a military grade AI." Athena resumed the story.

"I'm gonna head back to HQ, lemme know when she's finished, so she can tell me the story again, cause I'm lost at this stage. Laters!" Tina chimed in, got up and left to head back to HQ. Of course she had missed the beginning of the whole thing. I was getting slightly confused at this stage and I had heard the story from the start.

"Just... continue, you'll have to tell her the whole thing from the beginning, I suppose." I said to Athena.

"Alright. We fought the Bosun, killed him and went through a door and we discovered that the AI we'd been looking for was actually the Skipper herself. She used to be the AI running the ship and the Bosun had reprogrammed her to be his companion. She really wanted to get out of that wreck and do something interesting instead. So... we took her. And then Jack contacted us about an old Dahl robot factory that Roland and Lilith had found. We took a train to get there. The place was infested with torks and scavs, but we pushed through them all and made our way into the factory. And that's where we found Gladstone."

"Okay, who the fuck is Gladstone?" I asked.

"A Hyperion researcher working on experimental technologies. He said he was working on a prototype that could digistruct an unlimited amount of other robots. He didn't get to finish it, so we gathered up the parts he needed, so he could build his constructor bot. The Skipper - or Felicity, she called herself that, after we rescued her - wasn't very happy to be stuck in a constructor bot, but Jack didn't care. There was another odd thing. It makes sense now, I suppose, but at the time, it didn't seem like something out of the ordinary. He was very concerned about Gladstone double crossing him."

"Weird. Sounds pretty paranoid to me." I commented.

"Of course it was paranoid! Jack was insane!" Lilith replied.

"Well, whatever it was, we went to the robot production plant. We had to restore the power first, then pick up an eye from one of the security bots around the place, get a torso, mount it on the crane system and - well, we got it done anyway. Felicity was suggesting that we copy her, because it would be less terrifying for her. She was talking about how she hated killing people and was doubting it would be a good idea to use her as an AI, but... well, we needed an AI, didn't we? She was begging Jack to just copy her, but he wouldn't have any of it. So we installed her into the constructor and she just... she went absolutely rampant. We had to fight her to disable her."

"And then?" Lilith asked.

"We wiped her memory, so she'd be sane. At least somewhat sane."


	30. Chapter 29 or Consequences

_Songs: KMFDM - Rules; Placebo - Every You Every Me; Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun_

"We headed back to Moxxi's after that and met up with Jack, Roland and Lilith. The plan was for us to head up to Helios first via Fast Travel and for Lilith and Roland to follow us. The thing was we ended up at the other side of Helios, but we still stuck to our plan: get to the command center, shut down the laser without damaging it and save the moon. When we tried to get to the command center the path was blocked, so we had to resort to trying from Jack's office. We had to get a Claptrap to open the door for us, and it took an eternity. But we somehow managed to meet up in Jack's office, all of us, and since the Claptrap that got us into the office died, we needed to find another solution to get through to the Eye of Helios." Athena continued her story.

"What happened to Gladstone?" I wanted to know.

"I'm getting to that part. He contacted Jack, told him he was trapped in R&D with his team, so Jack sent us down there to rescue them. Jack figured that Gladstone and his team could get us to the Eye of Helios. In hindsight, that might have been the only reason why he wanted to help them. We got him out and went to get all his teammates while he went up to Jack's office to meet up with him. While all that went down, Jack's boss called to tell him he wasn't fired anymore, which might have made things a little easier, had it been decided sooner."

"Yeah, well, you all met up at Jack's office then, didn't you? What happened next?" Lilith asked impatiently.

"Jack was getting suspicious, because he still couldn't get access to the Eye of Helios, even though he disabled the jamming signal. Gladstone offered a few explanations, but Jack seemed to get hung up on the theory that there could be another traitor on Helios. We all got to the office and finally met Lilith and Roland who had fought their way over from the other side of Helios. The research team shut down the defenses to the laser and we were ready to go, but Jack wanted to 'talk'. He told the scientists that he would get them an escape pod to get them off the station. Got us to push the button. Turned out to be the button to seal an airlock. And he... Jack decided to vent the airlock because he thought one of them might be the traitor. It was... it wasn't good."

"There! That's when you should have known!" Lilith exclaimed, shaking her head. Athena sighed and decided not to comment on that.

"After that, Roland and Lilith stayed behind to defend Jack's office, while we went to the Eye of Helios to disable the laser. Most of us were shocked by what we had just seen, others... not so much. I could understand his logic, but I figured I'd finish the job and then be done with it."

"Even after the airlock, you still worked with Jack." Lilith said.

"As did you. Elpis had to be saved, regardless of how horrifying jack's decision might have been." Athena replied sharply. It did make sense... in a way. I probably wouldn't have known what I would have done. To me it would have been pretty frightening to be trapped on that space station with Jack. Then again, maybe I was imagining Jack scarier than he was at the time.

"Continue." Lilith mumbled, after there had been a heavy silence for a while. She had started pacing again.

"We had to climb through some of the access tunnels to get to the Eye of Helios and to be able to shut down the laser. In the meantime Moxxi came up with a plan. She told Jack that Zarpedon probably rigged the laser up to blow the whole station to pieces. She offered to get down the laser, so Jack sent her the blueprints. She told us to go to the Eye with Jack and she told Roland and Lilith to go to the stations reactor. We almost got blown up trying to get to the Eye of Helios, but we got there eventually. So did Jack. I asked him what powered that laser, but he didn't really answer the question. Should have made me more suspicious, really, but we still had a job to do."

Athena took a break, catching some air. I held up the bottle of water and she nodded slightly, so I went up to her to give her something to drink. From what we've heard I doubted Lilith could be too mad. It all made sense, in a way. Plus, she was just as involved in the whole thing, as Athena. At least until now.

"Thanks. We tried to shut down the laser remotely, but Jack got locked out, so we had to go in and shut it down manually. Zarpedon tried to keep us out at any cost, even put up a force field to shut us out, but we disabled it with Moxxi's help. Well, Lilith did, because she shot the right thing by chance. Once we got in, there was a huge electricity field protecting the laser. We had to wait for the laser to fire and then run through it. It was all for nothing, because Zarpedon had locked the door leading to the laser from the other side, so we had to take the long way around."

"Jeez, why even build a laser like that? When did they think they were going to use it?" I wondered.

"Yeah, that's... I don't know. Once we got out of the elevator, Zarpedon was waiting for us and we had to fight her. Twice. First time we killed the power suit, second time Zarpedon herself. She told us the Vault was already open, that she had seen what was in it and that the power within it would trigger some chain of events." Athena continued her story. I raised an eyebrow.

"What chain of events?"

"We never found out, because Jack shot her, before she could finish talking." Athena answered and did her best to shrug. Which was difficult with her hands bound behind her back.

"Yikes. Anyway. You got to the eye eventually, didn't you?"

"We did. Jack's plan for the thing seemed to be to wipe out entire bandit camps without any friendly casualties, although I doubt that would have worked well. It turned out that the Eye of Helios was actually powered by the Eye of the Destroyer. Moxxi gave us instructions on how to shut the whole thing down. Or that's what we thought she was doing. We did what she said and the eye started acting really weird, but Moxxi told us to keep going and that everything was fine and nothing would happen to the eye. When she told us to reboot the laser, Jack started freaking out and said he'd rather reboot it from his office, in case something went wrong. So that's where we all went after that. We tried to initiate the reboot sequence, but it didn't work."

Athena shot Lilith a death glare, but Lilith looked back at her with an equally threatening stare.

"We had actually managed to create a singularity, somehow. Because Moxxi wasn't helping us and neither were Roland and Lilith. They were betraying us and trying to kill Jack. The rest of us would just be collateral damage. But it didn't work. We survived it and so did Jack. And we still had our actual job to finish. Finding the Vault. Jack was angry, said he'd deal with all of you in time and told us where to look for the Vault. After surviving your attempt on our lives, we headed to Zarpedon's refinery site to look for the Vault." Athena continued with a sigh.

"Why? You'd already saved the moon, why not just leave?" Mordecai asked.

"I was hired to find a Vault - I don't leave jobs half-finished. That, and Lilith attempted to murder me. If she wanted the Vault, I wanted to stop her."

"Yeahhh - sorry I tried to kill you." Lilith said sheepishly.

"No, you're not." Athena replied.

"No, I'm not."

"So, Moxxi tried to kill Jack? She never told me that." Mordecai said, sounding pretty surprised at that.

"She's got layers. Like an onion made of boobs." Lilith commented.

"I'll never be able to get rid of that mental image." I replied.

"Moxxi plays her cards pretty close to the chest." Brick added.

"Which is saying something, given her cup size." Lilith said. We all started to laugh, which earned us a bewildered look from Athena.

"Do you want me to finish the story or...?" she asked. Lilith cleared her throat and nodded quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, continue."

"Jack's plan was pretty simple at that stage, really. It was to go down into the Vault, find whatever was inside it and use it to kill all of you. We made our way to the Vault, had to fight an RK5, which was almost impossible to destroy. But we got there eventually. Jack got really riled up about the Vault once we got down there. Lilith warned us to get out of there, but Jack was just on about how much he'd enjoy killing all of them once he was done with the Vault. Before we went into the Vault, he said something about weird readings, but said it was probably nothing."

"Yeah, that was me." Lilith chimed in.

"How'd you follow them without getting noticed?" Mordecai wanted to know.

"I... actually don't know. None of the guardians attacked me for some reason. It was like they WANTED to let me through." she answered.

"This is where we fought a Vault monster called the Sentinel. It was... rough. But we killed that thing as well and Jack could teleport into the Vault. There was a small Vault icon lying around and he noticed it and picked it up. Then he got lifted up into the air all of a sudden and placed on some sort of throne and he was screaming how he got it and how he understood everything now. And that was when Lilith came in, punching the Vault icon in Jack's face and leaving right after. He got up and his face was burned, one of his eyes was blinded, and he was more determined than ever to kill you all. And that is when the hero who saved us on Helios died. That was when I left Handsome Jack's employ." Athena quietly finished her story.

"You regret teaming up with Jack?" Lilith asked, still pacing back and forth, more nervous than before.

"Yes. Now do what you will." Athena answered. Lilith nodded.

"Kill her." she ordered.

"What?!" Mordecai blurted out.

"NO!" Brick protested as well.

"Lil, don't!" I said. Damn, this wasn't what we all risked our lives for. Athena was clearly sorry about what she did.

"If it weren't for people like her, our friends might still be alive! Ready-" Lilith replied to us and looked back at the Raiders who got ready to fire at Athena.

"This ain't us, Lil! This ain't YOU!" Brick shouted.

"FIRE!"

"No, Lil-" I screamed, but I stopped when I saw the bullets falling down to the floor in the middle of the air.

"What the hell?" Lilith mumbled. Someone... something very alien looking appeared, basically out of nowhere. Kind of looked like one of the Eridian guardians Tannis had been talking about.

"Now is not the time for bickering, Vault Hunters. War is coming. And you will need all the Vault Hunters you can get." the guardian said. We were all just staring at him, not sure what to say.

"What... what's that mean?" Lilith finally asked, but the guardian said and disappeared again, as quickly as he had appeared to us.

"The hell was that?" one of the Raiders said and aimed at Athena again. I rolled my eyes and walked up to him.

"Put that thing down." I said, as I was passing him. He looked over at Lilith, looking for some sort of confirmation from her.

"Nova, what are you doing?" she asked, as I went over to Athena. I had no nerve to explain myself to her right now.

"Promise you won't try to kill us, Athena? I'm gonna have a word with Lilith and Brick's gonna have an eye on you. You can tell your story to Tina again, if you feel like it." I said to her.

"I won't try to kill you, if you don't." she replied. I nodded.

"Good."

With that I cut the rope the Raiders used to tie her up. When I was done with that, I saw Lilith glaring at me. Oh dear. This would be a long evening, judging by how angry she looked. This wasn't the first time Lilith was angry with me, but it was probably the angriest she ever was at me.

"WHAT the HELL are you DOING?" Lilith demanded to know.

"Lil, let's go back to HQ and talk this over. You're in no position to give any sort of fair judgment right now, you're gonna need some time to think this through. Brick is going to look after Athena until then. But we can't keep her tied up like that. She's our prisoner and not some animal."

"Thanks." Athena said quietly, while Lilith was still shooting daggers at me. After a while she turned around without saying anything and walked back towards HQ. I sighed and followed her.

"You gonna be okay?" Athena asked.

"Yeah, she's gonna scream at me for a while, but she'll come around. Don't worry. She's got a lot on her mind lately and I don't think she's the most stable at the moment. Mordecai and I will talk to her and then she'll hopefully be reasonable." I replied.

"I hope so, too, because if Lil doesn't come around, she's gonna have you shot first, with the mood she's in." Mordecai commented. I sighed.

"I know. I know. Let's go and get this over with, then. Brick, you alright with watching Athena for a while?"

"Sure. Make sure Lil ain't going all crazy on you." he said.

"Don't worry about me. We'll manage this somehow."


	31. Chapter 30 or Meltdown

_Songs: Halsey - Control; The Connells - '74-'75_

I had to admit I was prepared to get kicked out of the Raiders and be fed to the skags, before I walked into HQ. Tannis informed us that Lilith was upstairs and she looked pretty curious about what had gone down. That had to mean that Lil was still angry as fuck. And that wasn't good.

"I got your back, chica. Don't worry. We all know she was wrong to order Athena to be shot. It'll be alright." Mordecai said to me, as I took a deep breath before going up the stairs to face Lilith's wrath.

"Thanks, Mordy. That means a lot. It really does.I don't think I was ever as scared of Lilith as I am right now."

"Me too, chica, me too."

I took another deep breath and started walking up the stairs. It felt like it took us an eternity to get there, but it was probably just a few seconds. When we got upstairs, we saw Lilith pacing back and forth again.

"Hey, Lil." I said quietly. I noticed that my voice sounded shaky. Fuck. Lilith looked up from the ground and glared at me, then at Mordecai.

"Look, I know you're upset-"

"Upset? I'm fucking ANGRY. What the hell did you all think you were doing down there? You all wanted me to take charge of the Raiders, you wanted me to take over from Roland! I made a decision down there, it's not up to you to question it! Not in front of everyone!" she snapped.

"I know, Lil. I'm sorry." I said.

"Look, the point is, we can't make any rash decisions like that. Athena's story upset you, it gave us all a lot to think about. You were not even near a good place to make the decision to have her executed." Mordecai agreed.

"Who made you the judge of that? I'm perfectly capable of making decisions!" Lilith replied and started pacing up and down faster.

"For God's sake, Lil, would you just sit down!" I shouted at her. Her pacing made me nervous and I hated it and I couldn't talk to her like that. To my surprise Lilith actually pulled up a chair and sat down, after staring at me for a long time. I sighed with relief and Mordecai and I sat down opposite her.

"Lilith. Tell us what's wrong." I said to her. I was pretty sure I knew what was up with her. Or at least what played a role in her current state. I just wanted her to tell us.

"Nothing's wrong. As I said, I'm perfectly fine." she answered.

"You're not. You're nervous as hell." Mordecai replied.

"How the fuck would you know?"

"You've been pacing back and forth nervously since we got here with Athena. You've been snappy with her since she woke up. You've been glaring at anyone who suggested that she might not be fully in the wrong. You only ever get like that when you're nervous or when you're on your period. Considering the circumstances, it's more likely that you're nervous. No point hiding it. I've known you for long enough. We built explosives for Moxxi together and all. I know you, girl." I told her.

"Yeah, I'm nervous! So what? I had to make a life and death decision out there, don't try and tell me you wouldn't be nervous." she replied.

"And that's why we're here. I'd be nervous as hell if I was in your shoes. And I wouldn't make that kind of decision on the spot. I'd think about it. A lot. So why do you think you're in any way ready to have Athena executed? Right after she told us her version of the events?" I asked.

"It's her fault that Roland is dead! It's her fault everything happened the way it happened!" she insisted.

"And why is that exactly?" Mordecai wanted to know.

"She helped Jack get into power. She could have killed him or left him before giving him the Vault. She could have avoided all of this. And then... no one would have had to die. Not Helena Pierce and her train of survivors, not Bloodwing or Angel or... or Roland." Lilith answered. She looked close to tears now.

"Lilith, do you even hear yourself? You were there and helped out for most of it, too! You betrayed Jack at the very end, but chances were that he would have gotten into the Vault either way." I said.

"But... she can't just get away with it!" Lilith protested weakly. Her voice was shaky and her eyes were glassy.

"Who says she did just get away with it? She doesn't have to die. I mean, what did you want to hear from her, when you asked her why? What was the answer that wouldn't have gotten her killed?"

"I... I don't know! I just... I wanted to hear that she was sorry about what she did to all of us. Don't you think she should be?"

"But, Lil. She said she regrets working for Jack. She is sorry. And I think for her it's a lot to admit to regretting something." Mordecai said. Lilith had tears streaming down her face now. I got up and walked over to her, giving her a hug and trying to calm her down. I was pretty sure we just had managed to actually get through to her.

"It's easy to say that, but... I regret helping Jack. I regret it every single day and I feel terrible about it. Because that's just the thing - Roland and I helped Jack, too. And if we hadn't, maybe... maybe he would never have gotten that far. I keep asking myself what would have happened if we never helped him? And it's giving me nightmares, it's keeping me awake at night. Even more so now that Jack is actually dead." she finally admitted, shaking and crying in my arms.

"It's okay, Lil. None of that is your fault. And none of that is Athena's fault either." I kept repeating to her.

"Why did you never say anything, Lil? You know we're here for you. Goddamnit, Lilith, why do we always have to get you to a meltdown before you tell us stuff like that? It ain't healthy, Lil." Mordecai said, shaking his head.

"I... I don't know. I thought I had to be strong, you know. Now that I'm in charge of the Raiders." she replied, laughing a little through her tears.

"Yeah, but not like that, Lil! You're just gonna drive yourself insane. And you look like you're insane, too." Mordecai said, a sympathetic smile on his face. I carefully rubbed Lilith's back while she wiped away some tears from her face.

"I guess... it's just... it's so difficult, getting rid of Hyperion and all this, while knowing... while knowing that I was responsible for Jack getting where he was. It feels... wrong. Hypocritical." she replied.

"Oh, come on, Lil! Everyone makes mistakes. You made a mistake back on Elpis. At the time you couldn't have known how Jack would turn out. And Roland supported the whole thing, too. Even Moxxi didn't suspect anything at first and Moxxi KNOWS people. Stuff like that happens. Killing Athena won't make you feel any better, at least not for long." I said to her. She buried her face in her hands.

"I know. I know. I don't know what I was thinking, I just... I just wanted her dead. I really wanted her dead. But it wouldn't be right and also... I suppose the guardian that showed up proved that even further."

"Yeah, what was up with that anyway? Was that thing an Eridian guardian? Like an actual real one?" I asked. The question had been on my mind all this time and I really needed to know. This couldn't wait until Lilith felt better.

"Yeah, that was an Eridian guardian. And he stopped bullets mid-air." Mordecai answered. I raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"Fuck. That's... is that good? Or is that bad? I really don't know what to think of it." I admitted.

"You're not alone. I have no idea what he was trying to tell us. A war is coming? We'll need all the Vault Hunters we can get?" Lilith said.

"I guess we should start recruiting or something?" Mordecai suggested.

"But for what? We don't even know what's going to happen. Or when it's going to happen. We can't just recruit for some indefinite date, can we?"

"No, not really. Maybe we should focus on the Athena problem at hand. What are we going to do with her? Let her go?" I asked.

"I guess so. What other choice do we have? We can let her go or kill her and since no one wants her dead, not even the Eridians, we probably have to let her go." Lilith answered and shrugged.

"I suppose she'll be a powerful ally, if it comes to a war and we need more Vault Hunters. It would be best to have her on our side by letting her go." I said.

"I agree. Athena made a mistake, just like you, Lil. And she's regretting it. If you get to live, she should get to live as well." Mordecai agreed.

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. I'll go and tell her when I'm... when I've calmed down a little. I probably should tell Gaige and Axton that they shouldn't kill Aurelia, but bring her here, instead. We've been told we need Vault Hunters, so I guess we should get them, no matter who they used to work for." Lilith said.

"Wait, you told them to kill Aurelia?" I asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I kinda knew I wanted to kill Athena and Aurelia was there, just the same. I figured it would be easier than transporting her all the way back from Epitah. And I mean, I also told them to go and hunt the Vault there, if they got the chance, so I hope they've done that one first." Lilith told me.

"Echo them. NOW."

"Okay, okay. Relax. They probably wouldn't kill her without checking back in, anyway." Lilith said and fumbled with the controls of her ECHO device.

"Axton, Gaige, change of plans: If you haven't found the Vault on Epitah yet, forget about it and get Aurelia. DON'T kill her. Did you hear that? DO NOT kill her. We had a little situation here with an Eridian guardian and we need all the Vault Hunters we can get, because there is a war coming. That's at least what he told us. Get Aurelia and bring her here, as soon as possible." Lilith messaged them.

"Good. Let's hope they haven't killed anyone yet." I said.

_"Yo, yo, yo, Lilith! What's up?"_ Gaige's voice suddenly came from Lilith's ECHO device. She rolled her eyes.

"Gaige, I've just told you what's up."

_"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Right. Okay, so we have actually found and opened the Vault and we also have Aurelia. We've had her for about... I dunno... a week or two? I suppose we're gonna head back with the last ship this evening, so. We'll see what we can find to get back as quickly as possible. You doing okay? Did you get Athena?"_

"What is up, Gaige?" I chimed in. I was really happy to hear Gaige's voice again.

_"Yo, Nova! How's the new leg? You like it?"_

"I love it, it's amazing. But yeah, back to the topic. We did find Athena. But we decided to let her go, because of all the stuff that's gone down with the Eridian."

_"Okay. Well, that's good, I guess. We'll try to get back to you quickly, so. I'll have an update for you in... maybe an hour or so?"_

"Awesome, Gaige. Talk to you then. We'll have to go and tell Athena she's free to go now. She doesn't know yet." Lilith said to her and ended the connection.

"You ready, Lil?" Mordecai asked.

"I suppose I am. As ready as I'll ever be."


	32. Chapter 31 or Home Sweet Home

_Songs: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama; Horslips - Trouble (with a capital T)_

It had been a few days since we had told Athena she was free to go whenever she wanted to. She said she'd go back to Hollowpoint once she had healed up a little more, which meant that she was currently still here. Yesterday she had finished entertaining Tina with her story and just now she was finishing up her story about how Jack destroyed all the Claptraps. Tina seemed delighted.

_"Helloooo, Sanctuary! Guess who's back from hunting Vaults on other planets? Did ya miss us?"_ a familiar voice suddenly came through the ECHO console. I blinked and went over to the console.

"Axton? That you?" I wanted to know.

_"It is! We're almost back on Pandora. Got a super fast interstellar ship, so we made the trip in a few days. Would have been weeks otherwise. Aurelia's cash bought us a nice ride back."_

"Holy shit, I can't believe you're back already!"

_"Pshhht, and I'M the nerd? I mean, what's the deal here, you guys? First Lilith is like, 'Hunt the Vault on Epitah, and then she's like, 'Don't kill the other Vault Hunters, bring back the one chick you found, WAR IS COMING.' Tch."_ Gaige's voice came through the console. Tina had ran up to me now and was looking at it fascinated.

"Ooooooh, you brought back a new Vault Hunting buddy?! I wanna meet her." she squealed excitedly.

_"No, you don't. Aurelia is the meanest. What's all this about Athena and some Guardian and war?"_ Axton asked next. I looked over at Athena, so she could tell them herself. Apparently, she wasn't expecting that, as she scurried closer to the console.

_"Umm, I'm Athena. I was relating to present company the story of how Jack rose to power."_ she said.

"Yeah, I heard it the first time and bits and pieces of the second time she told the story." I added.

_"Aww. We missed how Jack made the loaders?! Athena, tell it again."_ Gaige demanded, a nagging tone to her voice.

"I've already told it twice, I'm not-"

_"Pleeeaaase? Deathtrap REALLY wants to hear it! They are HIS ancestors, you know."_ Gaige interrupted. Athena sighed and rolled her eyes at me. I just shrugged. I guess that's what happened when we were all over the place, as soon as the important stuff was happening.

"... Alright. We had just gotten to the Helios Space Station to find it under attack-" Athena started, but got interrupted again, this time by Axton.

_"Wait. Is this going to be a LONG story?"_

_"Yeah, just give us the Bluff's Notes."_ Gaige added.

"The what?"

_"You know, the short important parts of those really long, obnoxious novels you read in school?" _Gaige said.

_"Yeah, the parts where you shot people! Killed stuff!"_ Axton added.

_"And made robots!"_

_"And blew up Jack's favorite toy!"_

"Fine." Athena said and started telling the story again. I would have done something else this time, if I hadn't been on duty. Duty was pretty much uncalled for with Jack gone, but someone still had to stay back in the Sanctuary HQ command centre to watch out for... stuff. Anything suspicious, really.

"You know where Brick is?" Tina asked me quietly.

"Not sure, but check Thousand Cuts, maybe? I think he wanted to get some stuff from there or something." I answered.

"Cool, thanks."

"You're not gonna listen to the story again?"

"Nah, I've heard it now. Time to move on and all. Laters!" she said and ran off. Damn it. She was too fast for me to tell her to take someone with her. Either one of the Raiders who was bored or Mordecai or Lilith, depending on how busy they were. She really shouldn't be running around Thousand Cuts on her own, even though she could probably hold up well out there.

"Hey Brick, are you in Thousand Cuts?" I whispered into my ECHO device. I didn't want to interrupt Athena's story.

_"I am, indeed. Why you askin'?"_ he replied quickly.

"Tina's on her way to you. On her own. Ran off before I could tell her to take someone with her. Can you have an eye on her, so she's safe?"

_"Will do, no problem."_

"Thanks, Brick." I said and ended the connection. I grabbed my data pad and sat down on one of the chairs at the table, a bit away from the ECHO console where Athena was sitting. This way I could do some reading or look through some stuff, maybe I would finally be able to buy some furniture and see if anyone would deliver stuff to Pandora.

_"Oh, cool. Jump pads!" _I heard Axton's voice. He sounded really excited about the fact that there were jump pads on Elpis.

"Deadlift was obsessed with jump pads. The only way we could beat him was to join him." Athena said. I tried to block out her voice while I looked at my data pad. I had no idea where to start. There were so many things I could do. Maybe looking for that furniture was a good place to start.

"After we made it to Concordia, we had to track down a jamming signal..."

_"Yeah, but what about the robots?!"_ Gaige interrupted Athena.

"We had to build a basic constructor so Jack could prototype his robot army, but that wasn't until AFTER we-"

_"The Lost Legion was supposed to be hiding out on the moon back then, weren't they?"_ Axton chimed in. Athena closed her eyes and took a deep breath, which made me giggle a little. Dealing with people really wasn't Athena's strong suit.

"Are you going to let me tell the story or not?"

A message popped up on my data pad. That was weird. I tapped on it to open it and saw that it was from Anouk. We had been in fairly regular contact, which I hadn't really expected after we left Artemis. But it was a good surprise.

Hey Nova, quick question, would it suit if I came to visit in say... two to three weeks? As in, to Pandora?

That was what the message said. I raised an eyebrow. How would she plan a whole trip in such a short time?

_"How do you build a robot? You just... collect pieces and glue 'em together?" _Axton wanted to know.

_"It's a highly technical process requiring skill and pizazz. And, uh, sometimes glue." _Gaige replied.

"We had the help of Gladstone - a scientist - and we also had a top-of-the-line military AI named Felicity." Athena explained some details of her story. Of course, that little detail wouldn't go unnoticed by Gaige.

_"Oooooh, what?! What happened to her?" _she wanted to know.

"We had to erase her personality. It was NOT my proudest moment." Athena answered. There was a short silence and I could only imagine how appalled Gaige had to be at hearing that.

_"I could NEVER do that to Deathtrap... NEVER, NEVER, EVER." _she replied, her voice sounding horrified.

_"Hey, Gaige! Wanna give my turret a personality?" _Axton asked, probably to distract her from the thought of someone erasing an AI's personality.

_"Sure! I'm thinking... femme fatale, with a no-excuses attitude and a thirst for blood! Likes romance novels and bubble baths." _she answered quickly. That was... oddly specific. But I suppose it would fit Axton's aesthetic.

I turned back to the message that was still open and that I still hadn't replied to. I suppose anytime would suit for a visit, really. It wasn't like we were up to anything and even Hyperion seemed fairly quiet lately. If anything they were busy with that new Vault, so they probably just wouldn't bother with us.

_ Sounds doable. Just let me know when and where you'll arrive. How long are you planning on staying?_

I quickly read over the message again before sending it. I hoped it was doable. I'd probably have to go over my schedule with Lilith, but there shouldn't be a problem with moving a few shifts around anyway.

_"How about that, D.T.? You're descended sort-of from a badass military AI!" _I heard Gaige saying. There were some pleased noises from Deathtrap in the background and Gaige laughed quietly.

_"Lilith said something about the Guardians being robots, too! Is that true?"_ she asked next, sounding really excited.

"Yes. From what we know about them, the Eridian Guardians are biomechanical constructs - perhaps made in the image of the Eridians themselves - but not flesh and blood." Athena told her.

_"That's weird. Speaking of robo-lutionary designs though, how 'bout those Dahl powersuits? Imagine if I could mount my turret on top of one of THOSE babies!"_ Axton suggested. Athena decided not to comment on that and instead continued with the story.

"The Lost Legion was well outfitted and well led. Zarpedon was NOT an unworthy adversary."

There was already a new message from Anouk waiting for me. I tapped on it and it was exactly what I had suspected.

Awesome, would have been a bummer if you had said no, because I'm already on the way. Should take a week or two, we just got on the ship in the morning.

For a second I wondered why that girl reminded me so much of myself, but the answer was kinda obvious. This is exactly what I would have done, when I was her age. I figured she'd also have no backup plan whatsoever.

_ What would you have done if I had said no?_

"It turned out that the Eye of Helios, over which we were fighting to regain control, was actually the Eye of the Destroyer." I heard Athena say. Oh wow. Were they already at that part of the story?

_"The Destroyer? That crazy blob of tentacles and hatred?" _Axton asked.

"To which OTHER crazy blob of tentacles and hatred would I be referring?" Athena replied in a sarcastic tone.

_"His ex-fiancée!" _Gaige chimed in and laughed.

_"That was harsh! Sarah wasn't mean, she just... I dunno..." _Axton said, trailing off slowly. He sounded kind of bummed out about her.

_"Whatever, man. You are an unparalleled stud and she should never have let you go." _Gaige replied.

_"Aww, thanks. But the Dahl Corporation WAS trying to kill me."_

"I am not surprised. Failure was not an option for Zarpedon or the Lost Legion, even though they had been trapped long enough to become completely corrupted by Eridium, and were no longer controlled by Dahl." Athena commented.

_"Zarpedon didn't have tentacles, did she?" _Axton asked.

"No, no tentacles, just a powersuit and a very strong belief."

I looked back on my data pad and saw another message. Had she actually come up with a backup plan?

I dunno, I would've just winged it. I've winged many holidays in my life.

I knew it! I had called it, hadn't I? Well, there would be no winging of holidays on Pandora. Not on my watch.

_ You haven't been to Pandora before. You better not try to wing anything here._

You've been winging ten years on Pandora, before you met Mordecai.

_That was different._

Actually, it wasn't. Winging it 10 years ago was way worse. Back then there weren't too many supplies coming in. Now, we had that at least. And we had the Raiders. Things were somewhat safe.

_"That's when you got to the Vault, right?" _Gaige said.

"Sure." Athena agreed. She sounded pretty tired at this stage.

_"So... Vaults can pretty much have anything inside of them." _Gaige concluded from the end of Athena's story.

"It seems that way. This one held knowledge, a terrible secret that I wish had never been discovered."

_"Pssht, the Warrior? We killed the f**k out of that thing!"_

_"Watch your damn language, young lady! So, you think Zarpedon should have destroyed the moon, and the Vault with it?" _Axton wanted to know.

"... No. While it is tempting to think that destroying the Vault was the right path, I believe it was just the easiest."

_"The easy way isn't always the right way, is it, D.T.?"_


	33. Chapter 32 or Falling From The Sky

_Songs: Major Lazer - Thunder & Lightning; First Aid Kit - Wolf_

I woke up from someone shaking me lightly. I opened my eyes. It was pitch black, but after a while I managed to make out the silhouette of Mordecai's face. He was sitting beside me, still trying to wake me up.

"What...? Mordy, what's going on?" I asked groggily.

"Come on, you gotta see this." he said excitedly. I sat up slowly, wondering what the hell he was on about at that time of night.

"What is it?" I wanted to know as he pulled me up and towards the small, dirty window of our apartment.

"Something's up with Helios." he said.

"Something's up with Helios? What's that mean?" I asked and rubbed my eyes. It was the middle of the night and I was still really sleepy. I squinted out of the window and at the moon and it looked like it was actually raining parts from Helios. There were bits falling off the space station and burning up in the atmosphere of Pandora. What the hell? This was really weird.

"Did you tell Lilith about this?" I wanted to know.

"No, I told you first. Couldn't sleep and when I looked out of the window there were small bits and pieces falling of Helios and burning up in the atmosphere. Thought I'd wake you first." Mordecai said.

"Man, Lil's gonna be so pissed if Helios blows up and she didn't get to do it." I mumbled and laughed.

"Oh shit. Didn't even think about that. You gonna let her know or should I?"

"I'll do it."

I kept staring out of the window for a little longer. Looked like there were tiny little space crafts being released from the station. It was only a few for now, but there were more and more all the time.

"Lil, you better wake up and look out your window, because there is something going on." I said into my ECHO device, hoping Lilith would wake up.

"Let's go outside and get a better view of that." I said to Mordecai.

"Sounds like a plan. You wanna stop by HQ and wake Lil?" he asked. I shook my head. That would take too long. I wanted to see this go down.

"Nah, she'll wake up. I'm gonna try and get to her again. She'll hear Helios in her sleep and she'll be wide awake." I answered. Mordecai grinned at me.

"Let's go then." he said, grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the apartment. I had just enough time to grab a scarf, so I wouldn't be freezing cold out there. On the way I sent Lilith another message.

"Lil, you better wake up right now, it looks like something's happening with Helios."

Mordecai and I quickly made our way to the edge of the city where we had questioned Athena just a few days ago. We had a great view of Helios there. And we weren't alone. There were a good few Raiders and the odd civilian standing there already, staring up at Helios.

_"What are you on about, Nova? What's happening?"_ I heard Lilith's voice through my ECHO device.

"Just... just get here. You'll see." I said to her as we watched some bigger pieces of debris falling down and burning up in the atmosphere. This was... How did this happen? What was happening? Surely, Helios Station wasn't just falling apart for no reason. The pods coming down into the atmosphere had to be escape pods and that had to mean that something went wrong up there.

"What the hell? Who of you blew up that space station without me?" I heard Lilith shouting from behind me. I turned around and there she was, in her pyjamas, blanket wrapped around her shoulders, hair a mess and dark circles under her eyes. I knew she'd be pissed seeing this.

"No idea. I have no clue what's happening up there. But something's happening. I'd reckon the little pods are escape pods. Looks like they're evacuating the space station and we'll have a bunch of Hyperion folk down here soon." I said.

"If the station really goes down, they won't be much of a threat. I'd say half of them won't even survive the first week." Mordecai commented.

Lilith walked up to us and watched as some bigger pieces broke off the station. It looked like the whole thing was just crumbling up and falling out of the sky. What the hell had they been doing up there? I wondered if Saul was okay. I mean, it wasn't like we were friends or anything, especially not after he had aimed a gun at my head, but I was still wondering. We did know each other, after all.

"None of you had anything to do with that?" Lilith asked.

"Not that I'd know." I answered. I turned back, as more and more people gathered in front of Scooter's workshop to see what was happening. I was surprised Scooter wasn't coming out to see what was going on, but then again he was probably still in Hollowpoint, handing over his workshop.

"Oh my God, oh my God, I can't believe it's actually happeniiiiiiiiiing!" I heard Tina scream, as she came running towards us, Brick following her.

"I... I think it is happening, Tina." I replied, as I saw one massive part falling away from the space station just before it collapsed completely and we were staring at the big volcanic crack on Elpis.

The debris from the space station was racing down to the surface of the planet and it was actually overtaking the small escape pods. Most of it burned up in the sky before it reached the surface, but there seemed to be a good few bigger pieces that survived. It was fascinating to watch, even though pretty much everything had already happened. It was just... I never thought the day would come when I would see that damned space station fall out of the sky. And here I was.

"Shit. I'm really pissed I didn't get to do that." Lilith mumbled, her voice still sounding groggy from just waking up.

"It's kinda... surreal." Mordecai said, shaking his head.

"Yeah. I mean, is that it? Does that mean, Hyperion lost? Or will they come back? What's gonna happen with all the people in the escape pods? They better not think they'll have it easy down here." I agreed.

"I doubt they will. I mean, they're not here voluntarily or anything." Mordecai replied, eyes still stuck to the sky.

"Damn. It's too early for that, but damn." Brick just commented. He was probably still half asleep and barely realized what was going on.

"I... guess that's the end of Hyperion terrorizing Pandora? At least for a while. They're not gonna build a new space station for a good few months. Hell, they probably have to completely regroup from scratch. Damn." Lilith mused. She pulled her blanket closer around her shoulders.

"So... what are we gonna do now?" Brick wanted to know.

"We PARTAYYY!" Tina shouted, doing a little dance around all of us. We all laughed, but if we were being honest, we were all clueless. This was like the time after we had finally killed Jack - we had no idea how to go on or what to do next. It was like we had a purpose as long as this space station was up in the sky and that purpose was to get rid of it. And now someone else had done it for us, whether they intended to or not. Now we were back at the start.

"I have no idea. I just know that I'm really, really tired." Lilith said, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"You would have been way more pissed, if we hadn't told you." I replied. She'd have gone ballistic if she had missed Helios going down.

"That is correct. Doesn't mean I'm awake enough to discuss the future of... well, everything." she answered.

"Not everything. Just the Raiders and Sanctuary." Mordecai corrected.

"That kinda is everything, isn't it?" Lilith said. I suppose, Sanctuary and the Raiders were everything for Lilith. Especially after she lost Roland. If she was to lose all that, because someone blew up Helios prematurely... Oh dear.

"Well... I guess, we can focus on Vault Hunting for a while, if Helios is gone now, can't we? There's a lot of Vaults on that map we haven't found yet." Brick chimed in. Lilith just sighed, as the last bits of Helios disappeared from our view.

"Brick, we don't even know how to read that map. Those Vaults on there could be anywhere, really." she said.

"Lil is right, Brick. We can't just go to any planet and check if there's a Vault. We wouldn't even get half a galaxy done that way." Mordecai agreed.

"Yeah. We also don't know how this whole thing just happened. Maybe it was planned or something. Maybe Hyperion will be back. We'll have to find out why the space station crashed and what is happening with all those people in the escape pods. Then we can decide what we're gonna do with the Raiders and with Sanctuary and with that Vault map." I said.

"Yeah, well, how about we all go back to bed and sleep over it? I really just wanna go back to bed and I'm cold as fuck. So if you'll excuse me, I'm off." Lilith replied and turned around to go back to HQ.

"Man, that girl takes her beauty sleep seriously." Tina commented.

"Yeah, and so should you. It's time to get back to bed, Tina." Brick told her. She squinted at him, but actually seemed to be tired enough not to make a fuss over her bed time (which she only did with Brick anyway, because Brick just couldn't say no to her, but that was a story for another day).

"Sounds like a plan. Might be able to get some sleep now." Mordecai said to me. I smiled at him and started to walk back towards our apartment with him.

"You think whatever happened up there was planned by Hyperion?" I asked.

"I don't know. I wouldn't know why they'd wanna blow up their own space station. Then again, I have no idea how the hell Hyperion operates. Guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm sure we'll get some sort of info tomorrow. Someone usually is hacked into some communication system and spill the tea eventually."


	34. Chapter 33 or A Hero

_Songs: The Kills - Future Starts Slow; Crooked Still - Undone In Sorrow_

"Okay. So here is what we have so far. Some Hyperion employee apparently went rogue and started shutting down Helios. Which meant the whole station collapsed. Everyone evacuated if they could and they should all be scattered around this area." Lilith said as she showed us on her little holo map.

We had called in a little team meeting, but with everyone around (except Zero who had gone off helping some people he met with a Vault) there just wasn't much room in HQ. So we decided to move to Moxxi's bar and have our team meeting there with a complimentary pizza.

"We doin' anything about them?" Salvador asked as he grabbed another slice of pizza. I hadn't even realized how much I missed Moxxi's pizza. Since Mordecai was sober, I wasn't in the bar as much as I used to be, so I also didn't get the pizza as much anymore. Today I remembered what I missed.

"Nah, son." Tina replied with her mouth full of pizza.

"Not yet. We'll try and keep an eye on the area, so we can see if they're just trying to survive or if something's up. Anyone up for recon shifts?" Lilith asked. I looked around, as the group suddenly fell very, very silent.

"Oh come on, guys. You've all been complaining about having nothing to do all day!" Lilith said.

"Yeah, but that's just nothing to do somewhere else. Out in the wilderness." Gaige replied with a shrug.

"I'll do it. Change of scenery and all. As long as I can get the time off when Anouk's coming over." I said.

"Oh my God, she's coming over? I wanna meet her, I wanna meet her, I wanna meet her!" Tina squealed.

"Is she bringing Nadia?" Gaige wanted to know.

"Aw, Mordy told me a lot about her!" Brick chimed in as well. I had no idea who to answer first. For some reason I had forgotten how difficult it got to keep things on the down low in Sanctuary.

"Yeah, she's coming over in about a week or two, depending on the ship's schedule. You can all go and meet her and I don't know if she's bringing anyone along. I can do recon until she gets here, then I might only be able to do some part time recon. That okay, Lil?" I said, hoping not to raise a bunch of other questions.

"Sure, that's fine. Mordy, you wanna do recon with Nova?" Lilith replied. Mordecai grinned and looked over at me, before crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"Pfft. Nah." he said. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"I don't wanna work with him either. Can't stand him. Not one bit." I told Lilith jokingly. She sighed.

"Great. The two of you are gonna do recon then and Maya and Axton, you two do the night shifts. Everyone okay with that?"

"Do we really have to?" Axton complained.

"Yeah, unless you guys work out a plan amongst yourselves, so you don't have to suffer too much." Lilith answered.

"Cool. What's next on the agenda?" I wanted to know. If we got stuck on this thing, we'd never finish the team meeting. Not that I had plans or anything, I just didn't enjoy long meetings.

"Next on the agenda... well, you all probably heard of Vallory unsuccessfully trying to open the Vault. Zero was hired by some guys to finish the job and open the Vault of the Traveller right now, so yeah. That's happening." Lilith said.

"Why'd she fail?" Gaige asked.

"The gate was unstable and there were some complications or something. That's all I heard from her son. Anyway, Zero is with that other group, so if anything goes wrong, he can call us to help out. But I'd say they all got this covered." Lilith replied.

"Huh. Cool. I hope he brings back some nice loot for us." Maya mumbled in her little corner. Her hair had really grown longer since I last saw her.

"Which brings us to point three. People aren't too happy to see us all still around, now that Jack's dead. Any plans on what we can do? Like... publicity wise, I suppose?" Lilith said next.

"Well, we all knew that day would come." Mordecai mumbled.

"We can't really tell them we've been hunting down more Vault Hunters. And we can't really say that we are needed on Pandora, because there is a map with a ton of Vaults that need to be hunted." I replied.

"Yeah, that's kinda my point. What do we tell people? What do we do with the Raiders? Do we train the Raiders to run Sanctuary? Any ideas?" Lilith wanted to know. There were shrugs and questioning looks all around.

"What about the whole war business? Can't we tell them that?" Gaige asked.

"We can, but the thing is... well, how long are they going to believe that? If there is nothing happening in a year's time then it's all for nothing and they'll just get more frustrated." Lilith answered.

"Hey, what's Ellie doing here?" I chimed in, completely oblivious of the discussion that was going on. Ellie wasn't in Sanctuary very often. I barely ever saw her. And for her to come and see Moxxi - something had to be up.

"Ellie? She's here?" Lilith asked and looked up until she spotted her at the bar.

"Maybe she just came for a chat with her mom...?" Salvador suggested. There was a collective shaking of heads.

"Nah, they don't get along too well. It's gotten better, but not that good." I said, as I watched her talk to Moxxi. Looked quite serious.

"Uh oh. I got a bad feeling 'bout this. Moxxi only gets this look on her face when something bad is happening." Mordecai observed.

"How bad do you think it is?" Maya wanted to know.

"Moxxi's gonna cry." he stated matter-of-factly.

"Damn, how do you know that?" Axton asked.

"Saw her cry a lot. You might wanna disperse or something, she's gonna kick us all out if there's too many people here. Doesn't like it when people see her cry." Mordecai said to us. A few nods were exchanged and our meeting quickly dispersed. Mordecai, Lilith, Brick and I stayed in the bar, watching what was going on, until we heard a piercing high-pitched scream coming from the counter.

"Ah shit, here we go." Mordecai mumbled. We all got up and quickly walked up to the bar, where Moxxi was hiding her face behind her hands.

"Are... are you okay, Moxxi?" Lilith wanted to know. Ellie turned to us, tears streaming down her face, as she shook her head.

"Oh damn... Ellie, what's happening? What's going on?" I asked.

"You... you didn't... hear?" Ellie replied with a shaky voice. I glanced at Moxxi, who was softly sobbing now.

"Hear what?" Brick asked.

"It's... it's Scooter. He's... oh, Lord..."

Only when Moxxi's sobs started getting louder, I understood what she was trying to say. Moxxi was visibly shaking now. Mordecai walked around the counter and carefully gave her a hug.

"Ssh, it's gonna be alright, Mox..." he mumbled quietly, while I was still trying to process what had just happened.

"What?" I breathed, still not sure the information had gotten through to my brain. I just felt kind of numb.

"Scooter's... he's dead." Ellie said. Lilith was shaking her head, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"But... but how?" she whispered.

"It's... a long story. There was this girl and she told us. Sent us an ECHO message." Ellie replied and wiped away a few tears.

"What... What'd it say?" Brick wanted to know.

"He... he died savin' her... her an' her friends. They were on a rocket... gettin' to that damned space station..."

"They went to Helios? Were they... were they the ones that brought Helios down?" Lilith asked.

"I... I think so. She said that... that there was some problems with the engine... they'd all have died if it wasn't for Scooter... the rockets would have exploded an' killed 'em all. They had to go out and detach 'em an' he got his hand stuck and..."

Ellie stopped and looked down, briefly wiping away some more tears. Moxxi was finally looking up at us again. She looked crushed.

"My boy, my poor little boy..." she mumbled and shook her head. I hadn't realized until now that I was crying as well. I mean... Just a few weeks ago I had been doing a race with Scooter, we had been hanging out together. Just a couple of days ago Mordecai and I went to Hollowpoint and helped him out with that health vial. I just... I just couldn't imagine Scooter being gone.

"The... the girl said she... she had to detach the rocket with... Scooter stuck to it... or they'd all have died." Ellie finished. A thought popped up in my head and it made me laugh a little, because it was such a bittersweet thing.

"He did get to go to space, like he's always been talking about. He did it." I said quietly. Ellie nodded and that was what pushed me over the edge from silent tears rolling down my face to wailing and sobbing.

"He's a hero."


	35. Chapter 34 or Hyperion Watch

_Songs: The Doors - Riders On The Storm_

"You okay?" Mordecai asked when he caught me staring off into the distance. I was in the middle of tying the laces on my combat boots, but for some reason I had to think of Scooter and started staring into the void. It happened a lot since Ellie told us, and I think I just still hadn't fully processed it.

Ellie was staying in Scooter's garage in Sanctuary for now, mostly to take care of his paperwork and have a look at the city's engines. They didn't seem to be doing too good at the moment.

"Yeah, I am. Sorry, I just..."

"Scooter?"

"Yeah. It just doesn't seem to have hit me yet. Like as if I hadn't really realized he is actually gone. I keep expecting to see him when I pass the garage, but then I remember he's not there and..." I trailed off. Mordecai sat down next to me.

"This place sure seems lonely without Scooter." he said.

"I really miss him. I wish I could've said goodbye or something. I didn't expect that one day he'd just be gone, because he was... well, he was Scooter." I replied.

"I know. Doesn't feel right, not having him around."

"I just never thought Scooter would be one of those people that die before their time, you know?"

"Yeah. You sure you're ready to go and do recon?" Mordecai asked, giving me a worried look.

"I'm fine. It'll distract me. Just... just nudge me if I space out or anything." I replied with a small smile.

"Alright then. You ready?"

"Not yet, gimme a second." I replied and finished tying my laces. I got up and filled my belt pouches with ammo and health vials. After that I grabbed my sniper rifle and my SMG. I checked the programming of the microchips in my leg and they were all set correctly. Perfect.

"Now I'm ready." I said, as I slung my rifle over my shoulder. Mordecai looked me up and down with a smile on his face.

"You look amazing." he replied. I blinked and had to laugh. That was unexpected. What was he on about?

"What?" I blurted out.

"I dunno, I just... didn't say it in a long time, that's all." he said. I laughed and shook my head.

"You're being silly. But thanks. Come on, let's go. Lil's gonna kill us, if she realizes we've been slacking off."

"Yeah, she will. Did she send you the location?" Mordecai asked. I actually hadn't checked the last message Lilith had sent me.

"Uh... hold on a sec..." I said, while fiddling with my ECHO device (and almost falling down the stairs while I was doing that). There was a message from Lilith, providing some very sparse details on the mission at hand and a location. Bingo!

"Yup, I got a location. But it's just a rough area. Same for you?" I wanted to know. Mordecai nodded.

"Yeah, we'll have to go to the edge of that area and check where they've put up their camp. She wants us to pinpoint the exact location, see how many there are, if they are in any way organized, if they seem to be well able to survive or if they're just barely getting by. That sort of thing."

"They're Hyperion office workers, how well does she think they're prepared for the Pandoran desert?"

"Who knows? Maybe they get survival training up there. Although I'd really doubt that. Can't imagine Hyperion cares much for the survival of their employees. Seeing as they can always get new ones." Mordecai said as we got to Pierce Station. The place had gotten pretty busy, since Jack was dead. Lots of people suddenly felt safe enough to leave Sanctuary and wander around the planet again.

"Where are we fast travelling to?" I asked.

"To the wasteland. The bit that's still as it used to be." Mordecai answered and put the Fast Travel code into the station terminal. Shortly after we materialised in the Wasteland at a lonesome Fast Travel station.

There really wasn't much around it, a few abandoned huts, some ammo crates and dumpsters. But not much else apart from sand and rocks. I was almost sure we'd run into Spiderants on the way to the Helios wreckage, so I got my SMG ready, just in case. Thankfully I had remembered to pack the right ammo. It had happened before that I left Sanctuary with the completely wrong ammo.

"I think we'll have to go that way. We're not far from the border of that area Lilith sent us." Mordecai said.

"Cool, let's go so. I wanna see what Hyperion's up to." I replied.

"You think they're up to no good?"

"They're Hyperion. Of course they're up to no good. But I wanna know if this is like a planned no good or if it's really just a bunch of office workers being thrown into a desert, trying to survive. Because that would honestly be kinda hilarious to watch." I said and chuckled a little.

"Sounds like a good idea for one of those reality ECHO shows." Mordecai agreed and laughed.

Ah yes, trashy reality ECHO shows. Mordecai and I had been binging on them for a while whenever we were injured or sick or anything and if we got sick of Mordy's period dramas. Those were some good times. Maybe this would be just as entertaining and would actually be a lot of fun.

"You sometimes wonder if your old place might still be standing?" Mordecai asked all of a sudden.

"I dunno. I haven't really thought about it, I just assumed they stomped the place to the ground when they arrested me. I mean they wanted to use it as a slag dump, so I suppose it's gone. I never really bothered thinking about whether they actually tore everything down." I replied.

I hadn't been thinking of my old house in ages. I had kinda missed it at the start, but after my time in the Gulag, I really was just glad to have a proper bed and more food than one meager meal a day. And once I had gotten over that, I had found my peace with everything being gone. There wasn't anything I could have done to prevent it anyway, and now I just barely thought back.

"That's fair enough. I suppose it would be infested with bandits, even if they had left it. Or it would be at least severely damaged." Mordecai said.

"Yeah, I guess so." I answered, when Mordecai held me by my arm and nodded towards a valley we were overlooking from the hill we were on. I looked down and saw some burnt wreckage that looked suspiciously like Helios parts. Was that it? The infamous Hyperion space station?

"You think we can do recon from those hills here?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'd say so. They should give us good enough cover and with the scopes we should be able to see well enough." Mordecai answered. We quickly moved towards the edge of the hill.

There were some rocks that would give us a nice cover, but would allow us to see what was going on down in the ruins of the space station. Mordecai and I both laid down and got our rifles ready. It was more for observation purposes than shooting, but if we had to shoot, I had some ammo. It was a very limited amount, because I had packed mostly SMG ammo, but enough to save our asses, if it should come to that.

"You wanna camp out here for the night?" Mordecai asked me while he was looking through his scope.

"Sure. If there's nothing weird going on that is. I can digistruct our stuff from HQ." I replied and internally commended myself to get a whole lot of programmable microchips installed in my leg. Those things were good for almost anything and honestly, I loved being able to just digistruct stuff all over the place.

"Cool. Oh my God. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Mordecai asked. I quickly looked through the scope on my rifle. I was so distracted I hadn't actually bothered looking yet. There were a bunch of people running around nervously and it looked like they were erecting some sort of statue.

"You mean the statue?" I wanted to know.

"Yeah. I'd have suspected they raise up a statue of Jack or something, but this is a headless one." he said.

"Maybe it just got damaged in the crash and they couldn't find the head...? Oh wait. Holy shit!"

"What is it?"

"There is some writing on the statue. Red paint, right across Jack's chest." I told Mordecai, while trying to decipher it.

"Rhys... why does that name ring a bell?" I asked.

"Wasn't someone that was with Vallory called Rhys?"

"I dunno, maybe? But how would the Hyperion guys know him. And why would they write his name on a statue of Jack?"

"No idea. Hey, see all those people bowing? To the left of the statue?"

I moved my rifle a little to the left and I could see them. A small group dressed in Hyperion uniforms was boeing down quickly. Shortly after, a short guy came in sight. He had long hair that he was wearing in a bun and a beard. He looked more Pandoran than the rest of the people we could see.

"Yeah, I can see them. Seems to be their leader. He almost looks like he is from here, but he doesn't have enough scars for that. He seems too clean and prim and proper to be from Pandora." I said.

"True. Man, what on earth are they doing? They're butchering that skag!"

"They managed to kill a skag for food?" I asked curiously.

"Seems so." Mordecai answered.

"Huh. That's not bad for a start. But what are they all doing down there? They almost look like they're forming some sort of bandit clan."


	36. Chapter 35 or Familiar Faces

_Songs: The Last Internationale - Cod'ine; The Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel_

Today was the day. Today was the day that Anouk would make it to Pandora. I was waiting for an ECHO message anytime now, while I was helping Ellie to do maintenance on Sanctuary's engines. I had never seen engines looking that bad before. It was a miracle that the city was still holding up at all.

"Hey, can you pass me that wrench, girl?" Ellie asked.

"Sure." I said and climbed back up to where all the tools were. I grabbed the wrench and brought it down to Ellie. The space down here was really narrow and it was an absolute pain to crawl around here. But we had to do it, if we didn't want the city to fall out of the sky any second.

"When's your girl coming again?" Ellie asked while she was working away on the engine. I wiped some sweat from my forehead, probably leaving a streak of black grease on it. I couldn't be bothered too much.

"Later today. She said she's gonna echo me when she's on the shuttle, so I can go and get her from Tundra Express. I mean, the Fast Travel Station is right there, but still. Wouldn't wanna leave her alone when she first gets here and all." I answered when my ECHO device was beeping.

"Speaking of the devil..." I mumbled.

_"Nova? Are you in Sanctuary?"_ I heard Anouk's voice asking.

"Yeah, I am. Are you on the shuttle? I can go and pick you up from there." I said. I heard some shuffling in the background.

_"Nah, it's all good. Hang on a second."_ she replied and a few seconds later the connection broke down.

"What the...?" I mumbled, trying to get the connection back. Ellie looked at me and grinned widely.

"Y'know what I'm thinkin'?" she asked.

"What?" I said absentmindedly, still trying to get the connection back.

"I'm thinkin' she's in Sanctuary right now."

"What? But... oh goddamn it. I think you might be right." I replied, when I realized that she probably asked if I was in Sanctuary because she was already on Pandora and at the Fast Travel Station.

"Told ya. Now go on and find her, before she gets lost in Sanctuary." Ellie said with a smug grin on her face.

"You gonna be okay down here?" I asked.

"Sure. Go on ahead, don't let her wait!" Ellie replied.

"Thanks, Ellie. See you later." I said laughing and climbed up through the engine room and opened the maintenance entrance. The light that was shining into my eyes was almost blinding me, as I climbed out of the maintenance shaft. It took me a few seconds to get adjusted to it.

When I could finally see clearly again, I looked down and saw that I had black grease all over me. Great. Well, I didn't have time to get changed or anything, especially if Anouk was already in Sanctuary. I made my way towards Pierce Station, hoping she hadn't left it and was wandering around the town, already.

"Anouk, are you at Pierce Station?" I asked her over my ECHO, just to be sure I didn't have to walk through the whole town again to find her.

_"Yeah, I just got here and realized I have no idea where to go now."_ she replied quickly, sounding a little embarrassed.

"I'll come and get you." I said, laughing a little.

_"Thanks."_

I turned around a corner and walked into Pierce Station, trying to wipe my hands on my old cargo pants to at least get rid of some of the grease. It didn't help much, but at least I got some of it off my hands.

As I looked up I saw Anouk there with a massive backpack on her bag and a duffle bag in her hand, that looked like it was full of guns and ammo. She did come prepared after all. And there was another familiar face with her.

"Jael?" I asked, surprised to see her again. I mean, it shouldn't have been as surprising as it was, but I was expecting her to arrive on Pandora on her own at some stage, fleeing from some terrible gang war.

"'Sup?" she asked with a smug grin. I looked back at Anouk, not sure if they had just met randomly or if they had come here together or what the deal was. I mean, I had planned to let them stay in the apartment anyway, since Mordecai and I barely spent any time there at all.

"I brought Jael over with me, since you told her she can come to Pandora anytime, I thought it'll be okay." Anouk told me.

"Yeah, sure, it's no problem. I'd hug you, but I'm kinda gross right now..." I said, when Anouk just went for the hug anyway.

"You been working on a car or something?" she asked me.

"No, it wouldn't be that bad if it was only a car. I've been working on the engines that keep the city flying. They're barely holding up, but we gotta do what we can. So far we haven't figured out a way to safely bring Sanctuary back down." I answered and looked over at Jael. I still couldn't really get over the fact that she was just... here now. Probably ready to join the Crimson Raiders.

"Is the city still running on the old ship engines? That's wild." Anouk said.

"Yeah, we don't really have anything else right now, so... I guess the engines will have to do. Before we go to HQ... everyone wants to meet you. It might be a bit overwhelming, but they're all amazing people, so don't worry. Just thought you might wanna know, before you're ambushed." I told them.

"Sure, no problem. I can't wait to meet everyone. Is Gaige back already?" Anouk wanted to know.

"Gaige is back, but I think she's just out trying to get some supplies. I thought you guys could stay in our apartment, since we barely stay there at all. Or if you'd prefer to be around some people, you might be able to stay in some of the bunk beds in HQ, but I'd have to talk to Lilith about that first." I said.

"I'll stay wherever it suits. I don't need much." Jael chimed in.

"Same for me, really." Anouk agreed.

"Cool, things should be easy then. Let's head to HQ, so." I replied and started walking ahead of them towards HQ.

"You probably already guessed it, but I'm here to possibly join the Raiders. If you're still looking for people." Jael said.

"Yeah, you might wanna talk to Lilith about that. She probably won't say no, but the Raiders don't have much to do at the moment. But if you talk to her, she'll probably let you join, especially considering one of us went off to do his own thing again." I replied, thinking back to the big falling out that Brick and Lilith had the other day. Brick wasn't a fan of her leadership style (he probably wasn't a fan of anyone's leadership style) and left Sanctuary with Tina.

"Cool, thanks. I'll do that. And if not, I'm sure I can find something else to do here. Or I'll go back with Anouk, I'll see." Jael said. Hold up. Going back with Anouk? So did that mean, she did come here with her?

"You can come back anytime with me. No one will mind, no matter what you think." Anouk replied.

"We've talked about that. You know what I think." Jael just said, causing Anouk to sigh and shake her head. She looked back at me with an apologetic smile.

"She can be real stubborn." she said to me.

"So wait. Did you get her together or did you meet on whatever ship you were on or what's the story?" I wanted to know.

"Oh, Jael came back home with me after the competition was finished and now she's living with me and Nadia, basically. She said some people were after her and she had to leave Artemis." Anouk told me.

"Huh. Okay. Anyway, this is HQ." I said, pointing at the building. We walked up to the door and went inside. Of course, Tannis was downstairs working away on some part of the Vault Map. She's been working on it ever since we found it, but she hasn't been able to actually get any new information.

"Hey, Tannis." I said to her. She just looked up and eyed both Jael and Anouk suspiciously. I sighed quietly.

"This is Patricia Tannis, she's a brilliant scientist, probably knows more about Eridians and their weaponry and technology than anyone else. She's a genius, but usually pretty busy. Tannis, this is my daughter Anouk and her friend Jael." I introduced them. Tannis just nodded.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Anouk said. Tannis blinked, as if she was surprised that someone was talking to her.

"Uh... hi?" she replied.

"Cool, let's move upstairs, I think most should be hanging around there." I said and we walked up the stairs.

"Don't mind Tannis, she's brilliant, but she sometimes forgets how to speak to people. If she says something rude, she usually doesn't mean it." I told them quietly. We got to the top of the stairs and saw Zero and Maya sitting on the couch, eyes glued to a monitor with some ECHO show on it.

"Hey, guys." I said to them. They looked over at me, Anouk and Jael.

"Oh my God, finally! We've heard a good few stories about you! I'm Maya, how was your trip here?" Maya asked them, offering them some nachos.

"It was alright. Pretty relaxed, but slow. We had so many stops on the way, I thought I'd go insane." Anouk replied.

"Well, you're here. Any plans on what to do?" Maya asked. She seemed really excited to meet them. I sat down on the couch next to Zero and grabbed a handful of nachos. I was really hungry from fixing that engine.

"That Sal's nachos?" I wanted to know.

"Maybe." Zero replied. Okay. They were Salvador's nachos then. Everyone had kind of made a sport out of stealing his nachos and getting away with it. This was probably no different. While Anouk, Jael and Maya were chatting away happily, I saw Lilith come into the room, looking at them curiously.

"Hey, Lil." I said, so she could meet them, before Maya started taking them on a tour of the planet or something. They all looked over to her leaning on the doorframe. I got up from the couch.

"Lil, that's my daughter Anouk and her friend Jael. I've told you about Jael before. Girls, that's Lilith, pretty much head of the Crimson Raiders. Even though it's not official. Also, one of my best friends for the past couple of years and not just because there was a general lack of good friends." I introduced them.

"Hi everyone. It's about time we all meet you. Nova's taken us all on that weird rollercoaster ride of emotions when it came to you, Anouk. Thank God that's settled. Where are you planning to stay?" Lilith asked.

"Well, either Nova's and Mordecai's place or... well, Nova said, we could possibly stay here, too?" Anouk replied.

"Yeah, I was just gonna offer you to stay here if you don't mind the bunk beds and a bunch of people running around all the time." Lilith said.

"Sure, here seems pretty cool." Jael answered. Lilith nodded and grinned.

"Perfect. Everyone's pretty eager to meet you, so you probably won't get bored. Just pick whatever bed you like and settle in."

"Awesome, thanks a lot!" Anouk said.

"No problem, girls. Welcome to Sanctuary."


	37. Chapter 36 or Intruders

_Songs: billie eilish - bury a friend; Mando Diao - Give Me Fire_

It was about a week later that I was sitting upstairs waiting for Tannis to arrive. This was another Crimson Raider meeting, but it was different. Tannis had called in this meeting and that was a very rare occurrence. She barely ever talked to us, let alone call a complete meeting. To be fair, she had been more open since we had discovered the map, talking to all of us about the possibilities of space travel, how we could possibly find the Vaults on the map and all that.

It was still odd for her to call in an emergency meeting like that. Mordecai was sipping from his bigass can of soda that he had placed on top of the Vault Key. A while ago he had discovered that the Vault Key made the perfect cup holder and from then onwards he had been driving Tannis insane with it.

"Any idea why we're all here?" Lilith asked.

"No clue. Tannis wants to talk about something. Could be anything, from the air conditioning to some groundbreaking discovery, really." I answered.

"I dunno, she looked pretty frustrated to me." Ellie said.

"Where's Anouk and Jael?" Mordecai wanted to know. They would usually hang out at HQ, but they weren't here today.

"Jael's probably out doing her training as a Raider and Anouk is working away on an update for Deathtrap with Gaige in Moxxi's workshop."

"People aren't happy to see more Raiders in Sanctuary, Lil." Mordecai commented and put down his soda.

Lilith sighed and looked like she was about to go on a rant about how everything was her responsibility lately and how she didn't like it, when Tannis stormed into the room. She said nothing just activated the Vault Map and looked at us, as if she was silently accusing us of some great evil.

Lilith just turned back to another console. She seemed a little down lately, which wasn't too odd, considering it had been about a year now, since she had to bury Roland. We were a little worried about her, because it had been going on for more than a week now, but it wasn't too bad to make us intervene. Yet.

"So why'd you call all of us into an emergency meeting like that?" Ellie asked, breaking the silence, while staring at the map floating above the projection table. Tannis took a deep breath.

"I do not understand why we haven't left Pandora yet. We are nowhere closer to finding the Vaults! This map is the most important scientific discovery in all of human history, and Mordecai is using it as a coaster!" she replied, sounding frustrated. The poor woman had probably been holding back for a year or so.

"Does that matter?" Mordecai asked quickly. He was looking up at the map, walking over to the Vault Key that had his soda can on it.

"We don't even know which planets these are yet. I don't like flyin' blind." he added, taking his soda and drinking it without breaking eye contact with Tannis. He really liked annoying her about this.

Ellie was shaking her head and brought up a projection of Sanctuary and the engines. It really didn't look good. The engines were blinking red and it looked like they had been doing that for quite a while.

"Sanctuary's holdin' together using spit and wishful thinkin'. She's barely stayin' in the air, let alone leavin' the planet." she said and slammed her hand down on the projection table, which caused a lamp to fall down. I sighed. Lilith and I had been trying to fix that lamp for ages and now it was all for nothing.

"Well, we gotta do somethin'. People are talking about disbanding the Raiders, sayin' Pandora don't need us, now that Jack's gone." Mordecai replied. I sighed. This whole thing had been boiling under the surface for a while and now there it was. Out in the open. We didn't have a purpose anymore. People didn't need us around. Or at least they thought, they didn't.

"We need a leader." Mordecai added. We all looked over at Lilith. I saw how she straightened her posture, probably knowing we were all looking at her and expecting her to say something.

"She don't want the job, man. And can you blame her? Sometimes, when you're the one calling the shots, people get hurt." Ellie said. And she was right. Both of them were right. Since Athena Lilith had been reluctant to take command. As if she wasn't sure she could do the job anymore. But we needed someone to lead the Raiders and Lilith was the obvious choice. But we couldn't force her.

"Not makin' a choice is still a choice." Mordecai replied.

"So then: We have no plan, no working ship, no leader, and a SODA CAN ON THE VAULT KEY!" Tannis said, sounding as if she was about to cry from frustration and looking accusingly at Mordecai.

"Lil. We need to make a call. What do you think?" Ellie asked, before this could develop into a full-blown argument. Lilith sighed loudly and turned around to us, when suddenly the ground was shaking and Lilith almost lost her balance.

"What the..." I mumbled, holding onto the table. Ellie quickly brought up the holographic projection of Sanctuary again.

"Ellie?!" Lilith asked. Ellie shook her head.

"That ain't the engines, Lil!" she told her. Mordecai quickly grabbed his sniper rifle that was resting against the table and made his way to the balcony. I grabbed my rifle from one of the consoles and followed him.

When we got to the balcony we could see massive spaceships coming down right on top of Pandora. What the hell was going on? Who were they? And what the fuck were they doing here? Lilith had come outside to see what was going on as well and she just squinted and slightly shook her head, before she reached for her ECHO earpiece.

"This is Lilith. Sanctuary is under attack. All civilians, evacuate the city immediately! Crimson Raiders, to me!" she announced. I saw a whole lot of guys in professional armor jumping out of the space ships. Who the hell were these people?

"No me chingas, cabrones!" Mordecai mumbled angrily. I was loading up my rifle and aimed at them, but there were so many of them and they moved really fast. I took out one or two with a clean head shot, before I realized that this wasn't a great vantage point. I looked around.

"Hey, Mordy, left or right?" I asked.

"Left. You take the right." he replied. I nodded and climbed over the railing on the balcony, jumping onto rooftops until I was in a better position to shoot people. Mordecai was just opposite me. There were people running and screaming, trying to get to the Fast Travel Station and get out.

This was terrible. How had none of us ever thought about how much of a trap Sanctuary was in case of an attack like this? If the Fast Travel still worked it was a wonder. I saw a rocket flying at one of the attacker ships, taking it down immediately. Whoever thought of using a rocket launcher and having one at hand was a genius, to be honest. It took a little (and about five or six head shots) until I realized that Anouk was in Sanctuary. Right now. Fuck. I hoped she was alright and could get out.

"Anouk, if you can, get out of the city, immediately!" I echoed her, just in case. All that was left to do was hope and pray things would go right and kill those bastards. I saw one of them throw a grenade into a bunch of civilians. I got him in the head, but the thing exploded anyways, releasing some weird gas.

_"Get back to HQ, there is way too many." _Mordecai echoed me from the other side of the square.

"I agree." I said, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until I was back at the balcony, and could pull myself up on the railing. Lilith was there with her SMG, trying to get them from a distance.

"Damn, they're after the Vault Key!" Lilith mumbled, as I landed on my feet and on the balcony again. Mordecai had already made his way back as well, still trying to shoot some of them.

"Lilith! There's too many of these pendejos." he told her in an accusing voice. We had to do something. And we couldn't just walk out through the door and get to the Fast Travel station. That's not how things worked anymore. Lilith gave him an annoyed look and then sighed. She reached for her earpiece again.

"This is Lilith! All Crimson Raiders, fall back to HQ!" she ordered and made her way back inside, Mordecai and I following her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, you?"

"I'm fine."

"Just tell me where to point this sumbitch!" Ellie shouted as we walked back towards the Vault Key. The weird gas was around there already. They had to be close, if they weren't already in the building.

There was another impact with something and some parts of the ceiling started raining down on us. Tannis was on the floor, holding her leg. Some debris had probably fallen on her or she hurt herself from the fall. Lilith quickly helped her get up and we went back towards the balcony. We were cornered here.

"Come on!" Lilith said, as she grabbed Tannis' arm. We had just made it out of the room, when some of the soldiers that were attacking came in, still firing at us. Mordecai peeked around the corner and almost got hit by a bullet. Tannis was on the ground, breathing heavily and obviously in pain.

Lilith put away her SMG and sighed. She looked straight ahead, focussing on something. It was one of the old posters with Roland's face still on it. She was trying to phase us out of the city, all while under rapid fire and without extra Eridium. I prayed we would end up somewhere reasonable.

I took Mordecai's hand, because right now, I was really afraid we'd end up somewhere terrible, no matter how much confidence I had in Lilith's siren skills. She wasn't in a good mood today, she was under immense stress and she had no Eridium. Just as I was thinking this, I saw the purple flash and then I was gone.

When I opened my eyes again I found myself lying flat on the ground in some cave. I was still holding my sniper rifle in one hand and Mordecai's hand in the other. I looked over at him and he seemed to still be knocked out. That was, until I heard him coughing and swearing. He turned his head and looked over at me.

"Where the hell are we?" he asked. I just shrugged.

"No idea. I just woke up. Let's hope our ECHOs aren't broken."


	38. Chapter 37 or Lost Signal

_Songs: __Songs: X Ambassadors - Jungle (The MADE Edit); Arctic Monkeys - The View From The Afternoon_

_"You alright, killer? I got as many people off Sanctuary as I could, but it was kind of a rush job. Looks like I scattered the Crimson Raiders around the area._" I heard Lilith's voice over the ECHO. Both mine and Mordecai's ECHO devices got pretty busted up. Mine was capable of showing the map, but nothing else and Mordecai's ECHO could receive messages. Neither of us could send anything at the moment, which was pretty annoying and which was what I was currently working on.

_"Those weren't bandits that attacked us. They were trained soldiers. And that gas - it turned people into monsters._ _Find us a base camp while I look around for the others. We'll rally the troops and take back Sanctuary."_ Lilith said next. So, the Raiders were scattered all around the place and it seemed like Lilith might have managed to get out a few civilians as well. I had no idea if Anouk was okay or not, and I had no way of finding out. I also had no way of letting Lilith know we were okay.

_"At ease, cowards. This is Colonel Hector of the New Pandora army. You can stop running now. I already got what I wanted. Sanctuary and the Vault Key are mine once again." _someone unfamiliar announced over the ECHO. He started to laugh and had to cough from it. That had to be the guy leading his soldiers to Sanctuary. What the hell was his deal? Why was he attacking us?

_"Honestly, I was hopin' for more of a fight. I mean, y'all got completely outmaneuvered. What happened to you Crimson Raiders? Seems without your man Roland, y'all turned into a pack of baby rakks with yer tailbarbs tucked between your talons!" _he mocked. Mordecai turned around to me and shook his head angrily.

"Can't you shut this guy up?" he asked.

"Not if you want me to try to get a connection to Lilith." I answered. It was difficult enough to fix an ECHO device, but it was even more difficult to do so without the proper tools. All I had were some digistructed tools, thanks to my leg. And I could only get to half of them, probably because this Hector guy was royally messing up Sanctuary.

_"So here's what happens now. You've seen what my Paradise Gas did to your people. Next up? All of Pandora. Sure, it'll kill everyone on the planet, but every garden needs its fertilizer." _he said, as if on cue. Right after that I could hear Lilith sighing and I knew exactly what part of his little speech had gotten to her.

_"Well, he's a dickhead. But he's right. Roland never would have let this happen."_ she said. I knew it. I fucking knew it. She'd end up blaming herself over everything. Maybe we should have never let her be in command right after everything that happened. We should have known she'd always compare herself to Roland and would feel like she was failing him constantly.

_"Y'know, back in the day, Sanctuary was the pride of Dahl's mining fleet. Seems to have fallen into disrepair. I hope you don't mind, but I've already made some upgrades. Here, I'll say it for ya: incoming."_ Hector said again. I exchanged a horrified look with Mordecai who was scouting the place out as well as he could. Talon was a big help with that, but we couldn't run too far off without knowing where the others were. There was no point getting killed just yet.

_"Back off, you viney bastards! This is my kingdom! Squatter's rights... bro! Those vine-freaks are back! Okay, okay, who's saving me?! Roll call! Anyone who's not gargling vine currently, scream bloody murder!" _another unfamiliar voice shouted through the ECHO. Who the hell was that now? Some bandit king or something? He sounded unusually sane for a bandit king.

_"The hell is up with this guy?" _I heard Gaige's voice.

_"That's what you're worried about? How about all these plant people?"_ Maya replied to her. I couldn't stop smiling. It was good to know that at least those two were still with us. And it sounded like Salvador was alive and well, too, judging from the sound of rapid gunfire and shouting.

"Maya, Gaige and probably Salvador are all with Lilith, it seems!" I told Mordecai. He looked back at me and smiled a little.

"That's good. Anouk is probably with them. We were together and ended up in the same place, so she's probably with Gaige and the rest of them. What's this thing about plant people?" he replied.

"Apparently that gas they released in Sanctuary turns people into some plant - human hybrid thing. Doesn't sound fun."

_"What's that? I hear the sounds of bloodthirsty murder, and I love it! Whoever you are, mystery bandit, kill - kill, KILL! - those vine-freaks and turn that tide!" _the mysterious bandit king shouted again. Mordecai and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. A lot of things were weird on Pandora but this guy just didn't fit in with the general vibe of weirdness. He was a special kind of weird.

_"Hey, how's that tide comin'? Is it still turning? Heck yeah! Slice and dice those reaping creepers, my mysterious savior! Nice job."_

_"And now I'm sitting in some sort of clown-themed novelty bar enjoying week-old pizza and watered-down booze. Hell of a lifestyle, folks. But it made you soft. In my experience, an army rots from the top down. I led my people up from ruin, gave 'em somethin' to believe in. That's why they follow me. We are New Pandora. We're the men who split our backs on the promise of paradise. But it was stolen from us. Now we're takin' it back. Startin' with your ship, and your key. Now, Paradise is a'comin'. And if I have to choke the life outta every last person on this planet to get there, then that's what I'm gonna do." _Hector chimed in. He was at Moxxi's bar? Did that mean that she was dead? Or that she got out? Or that she was held prisoner? Had she been turned into a plant?

_"Oh crap! A Vault Hunter! Oh, um... Uh... kidding! Easy, easy! Let's not get all shooty... at me... okay? Uh, my name is Vaughn. Now, I know we're supposed to be, like, mortal enemies or whatever, but... I don't know, the enemy of my plant-monster enemy, right? Sure! Hey, looks like Hector kicked you out of your home too, huh? Well, guess we better join forces! Welcome to my camp... the Backburner! Look, Hector's vine-freaks could be back at any moment. We'd better secure camp, Vault Backburner's firewall got knocked out. And I'm talkin' an actual wall of fire! We gotta reset the security relays to get that firewall A-FLAMIN'!" _the odd bandit king from earlier said through the ECHO. I fiddled with some wires and got hit by a spark, which caused me to drop the ECHO device. Something on it lit up.

_"Guess we'll reset those relays. We'd have a place to stay for now, after all." _I heard Axton say. Thank God, Axton was still alive. I reached for the ECHO to check what I had done to it. Maybe I could send messages now...? No. Still nothing. At least I didn't break anything. As I continued to check what that spark might have done, I saw a small satellite symbol blinking in the corner. I had the map back!

_"You know, uh, I actually opened a Vault once. Went from Hyperion Accountant to Vault, uh, Guy to Bandit Warchief. It's a long but very touching story. Hey, I'll tell you about it some time over some questionably-sourced meat! Me and my bandit clan were living over in the wreckage of Helios station, and Hector shows up and ordered us to give him our moonshot cannons, but we said, _HELL NO, WE WON'T BRO!_ And then that, that didn't work out too well. We tried fighting off Hector's New Pandora soldiers, but we were no match for 'em. I probably should've armed my clan with more than presentation-grade Hyperion laser pointers. Lesson learned, I guess."_ Vaughn said over the ECHO. Hold up. Was he the guy we'd been doing recon on until Lilith thought all the Hyperion people were harmless enough and we should just let them be? Wild.

_"Me and the survivors regrouped here. We were getting ready to retake Helios when Hector launched a gas attack and turned everyone but me into vine-freaks. Now that dude Hector is walkin' around like he's Mega-President-King of Pandora or whatever. Y'know, Pandora's like air, or meat, or underwear. It's meant to be shared! Man, you reset relays like it's your day job! Which would be almost as bad as being a Hyperion accountant."_ he kept talking. I heard Mordecai take a deep breath.

"He sure talks a lot." was all he said.

"So he does. Anything interesting yet?" I wanted to know of him. He shook his head and kept looking through his scope.

"Not really. There's a bandit camp nearby, small enough. There seems to be some sort of mine entrance, that might look interesting. And it looks like we're close to Mount Scarab." he answered.

_"Nice! Now you can reboot the last relay. We'll have that old firewall A-FLAMIN' in no time! And if any of my clan survived, they'll come running when they see a fire! They always do! It's hilarious."_ we heard Vaughn say over the ECHO. It almost seemed like Pandora was getting to him more than he'd admit. It probably was a massive culture shock, going from Hyperion accountant to this.

_"You did it! If Hector sends more vine-freaks, we'll be ready for 'em. Gah, it's one of those vine-freaks! Kill it, stab it, shoot it! Sweet kill! Now, let's chat blood pact!"_

I heard a sigh coming from the ECHO after that, but I wasn't sure who it was. Definitely not Gaige, she'd sound more dramatic.

_"Lil? I think we might have found a place. You wanna come and head over here?" _Maya said next.

_"On my way."_ Lilith replied curtly.

_"Well, I never thought I'd team up with a filthy, smelly Vault Hunter like you, but desperate vine-freak-gas-turning-times call for desperate measures. Screw that home-thief Hector! You and I are gonna mess that dude up! Bloooooooood pact!"_ Vaughn said, as if it was a compliment he had just given us.

"Did he just call us filthy and smelly?" Mordecai asked.

"I think he did." I answered, trying to subtly smell my armpits. Okay, maybe right now that was true, but we had working water in Sanctuary and took regular showers. None of us were filthy and smelly. Only sometimes.

_"Sup, killers. Good work finding a camp. Guess this'll be our home while we figure out how to take back Sanctuary." _I heard Lilith's voice. I quickly checked the map and saw that she was with the others now, just walking towards them.

_"Uh, this is MY camp?" _Vaughn protested.

_"Hey Lil, step back if you don't want to get any bandit on ya." _I heard Ellie's voice on the other end. Thank God she was okay!

_"Easy, easy! We can share! Hey, wanna take a spin in my lucky underwear?"_

_"I'm listening."_

Okay, this Vaughn guy might be weird, but he seemed pretty harmless. Not much of a bandit king, after all. Unless you'd count his dead Hyperion colleagues as bandits. Which they weren't. Not really.

_"I'm gonna teleport back to Sanctuary and try to take Hector out. Maybe there's still time to fix this." _Lilith said.

"Is she insane? She's teleported so much already!" Mordecai commented.

"You know, Lil. And unfortunately there is no voice of reason with them to stop her, so..." I replied, hoping to God Lilith wasn't gonna do anything stupid while we were gone. Because she totally would. I heard her coughing on the other end.

_"Not gonna happen. I can't get to him. Sanctuary's flooded with that gas. Tannis, can you... I dunno, whip us up an antidote?" _she asked next. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank God she could see for herself it was a dumb idea.

_"Of course. I will first need to discover the nature of these mutations. Send me some plant genitalia. I believe they are called _flowers_ at your reading level." _Tannis replied in her usual condescending tone.

_"What she said. Let's get it done." _Lilith said.


	39. Chapter 38 or Spare Parts

_Songs: Green Day - Welcome To Paradise; Radio Moscow - Densaflorativa_

_"So you cowards teamed up with that bandit from Helios? Figures. They gave up their moonshot cannons real easy. Now I can launch my Paradise Gas wherever my eye can see. Adapt and re-use! That's called strategy - you know, if you ever wanna taste victory for a change."_ Hector announced a while later.

_"I'm so ready to kill that guy. Get Tannis those samples, killer. I'll keep rounding up the Raiders." _Lilith said. I had taken a short break from trying to fix the ECHO device, because it was driving me insane at the moment. I hadn't really gotten anywhere further than that. The map was a bit more stable, but that was all that had happened so far. This thing was a nightmare, but it looked like I had to get a move on with it soon, now that Lilith was looking for everyone.

_"Tannis! I couldn't find you after the attack. You somewhere safe?" _she asked next. I quickly checked my map again. For some reason I thought that Tannis was with her all this time. Looked like she wasn't.

_"Oh, yes! I'm secure in one of my many hidden panic shelters. Handy when you live in a constant state of panic. Enough small talk, get me those samples and we'll have a plant monster army of our own in no time!" _Tannis said, sounding really excited about the prospect of creating said plant monster army. It was like she lulled us into a false sense of security while under the surface she was still as insane as ever. Or maybe it was just a science thing. Who knew.

_"We just need an antidote." _Lilith replied to that, sounding just as weirded out as I felt right now.

_"Hff. Fine. Honestly, sometimes you people make no sense whatsoever." _Tannis commented, sounding defeated.

_"Get Tannis those samples, killers. I'll keep rounding up the Raiders." _Lilith told the Vault Hunters. It looked like everyone of them was on the task. I got one extra signature from the map as well. I was just hoping it was Anouk. It seemed like the logical option, but then there were a bunch of Raiders that had been scattered all over the place. It might as well have been one of them.

_"You might find yourself hitting harder while fighting within a gas pocket. Strange, but potentially helpful! Do keep a close eye on your exposure level, unless sprouting vines and losing your mind is a newfound kink - in which case, I have some ECHO novels for your perusal. Judgment-free zone!"_ Tannis said to the Vault Hunters. Mordecai and I exchanged a worried glance.

"I really didn't need to know that." Mordecai mumbled.

"I was gonna say it's good to know that Tannis has some somewhat normal hobbies, but then... I don't know how applicable that really is." I replied.

_"Look for closed bulbs, I need pure specimens." _Tannis gave them instructions over the ECHO. I had started working on the device again and now got some faint interference. And that could either be a bad or a good sign and we wouldn't know until the thing either broke completely or started working again.

_"I see the gas has infected the local fauna as well. Vault Hunter, try obtaining samples from those infected skags." _Tannis said again. Okay, this was just getting out of hand. Skags were getting infected, too? That was just wild to me right now. What kinda stuff was that and how did that Hector guy get a hold of it?

_"We've got the first flower sample, Tannis."_ Maya echoed her. I started to work a little faster on the ECHO device. I didn't really want to miss out on all the action, especially now that I had my new leg and Sanctuary was on the line.

_"Very good. These mutated plants are enormous, even by Pandoran standards. It's unlikely that this gas is naturally occurring. Someone engineered it."_ Tannis replied to Maya. I sighed. Of course someone did. Fighting an evil colonel and his plant army wasn't enough, there had to be a mad scientist as well.

_"The gas has been elegantly designed to increase biomass at an exponential rate. In dumbspeak: _gas make tiny plant go big big and do the ouch_." _Tannis kept on talking. I could hear the eye roll when Gaige replied to her.

_"We're not that dumb." _she said.

_"Yeah! We also got all the samples." _Salvador added.

_"Great. Creating this gas would require an understanding of advanced bio-genetics I can only describe as brilliant... and arousing. Now we must discern how the gas is infecting humans. I will require samples. Specifically brain matter, which I like to call that good gray stuff."_

_"We'll be onto that as soon as we finish off the skags."_ Axton told her. It was quiet for a while after that. I kept working on the ECHO and it looked like I was finally getting somewhere after hours of work. I tried locating whoever was nearest to us at the moment and it turned out to be Maya.

"Hi Maya, this is Nova, can you hear me?" I asked her. No reply. Shit. She probably didn't hear me and I needed to tweak the ECHO device a little more to be able to reach Lilith and everyone else.

_"I just got some weird interference on my ECHO device, anyone else got the same problem?"_ I suddenly heard Maya ask.

"It worked!" I exclaimed. Well, it didn't really work, but I was getting somewhere. I needed to amplify the signal somehow...

"We're back?" Mordecai asked. I shook my head, grinning widely.

"Not yet, but we're one step closer. I was able to send a message to Maya, but she could only hear it as an interference. I need to amplify the signal and then we might have a chance to get through to them." I answered excitedly.

"Great. Will people be able to detect our ECHO signature?" Mordecai wanted to know. I shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe. Definitely if they're close enough." I replied, looking through my things to see if I could find anything to amplify the signal.

_"We're done with the skags, moving onto the brains n-"_

_"Got one!"_ Salvador interrupted Gaige.

_"Oh my. Such playful mRNA structure. You naughty little thing, you." _Tannis answered gleefully.

_"Tannis."_ Lilith said to remind her to focus on the task at hand. I really hoped they could get an antidote done. Otherwise half of Sanctuary would be wiped out just like that. That is, if they weren't already.

_"Ahem. Yes. I will, as they say, _keep my Class 5 biohazard suit on_. Just a few more samples, Vault Hunter. I've almost reached a conclusion!"_ Tannis said happily. I found something I could use as an amplifier, the only problem was... it was in my leg. It was connected to one of the microchips. I quickly checked what it was supposed to digistruct and whether it was anything important. Thankfully, it wasn't.

"Mordecai, if there are any bandits coming our way during the next ten minutes, I'll need you to cover for me." I told him, before disabling the nerve connections in my leg. If I didn't do that, this would be a lot more painful.

"Why's that?" he asked and looked over just as I was opening up my leg, part by part. It was kind of strange to be a walking and talking parts deposit, now that I was thinking of it. Mordecai looked slightly horrified.

"Need a part." I told him.

"From your leg? Is there no other way?" he wanted to know. I shrugged.

"None that I can think of right now. This will be fine, don't worry. It'll only deactivate one of my microchips and it's not a very important one. That is, if everything goes right." I answered.

"Please tell me you'll be careful with that..." he mumbled while I proceeded to take apart my leg until I got to the microchip that I needed. I took a deep breath before I dove in and proceeded to rip it out of my leg. Of course I didn't feel anything, but there was still some weird sort of phantom pain, as if my brain wasn't ready to accept the fact that mechanical parts don't hurt.

"Hehe. Got it." I mumbled happily to myself. I started putting all the other parts together again, which was basically just like a big puzzle. Gaige really had done a brilliant job with her design, so any changes to the functionalities of my leg would be easy and I could do them if I needed to.

When I was finished, I looked up at Mordecai again who was staring at my leg with a horrified expression on his face. To be honest, I felt the same when I saw Gaige take apart her robotic arm for the first time. But by now, I had gotten used to it. Of course, Mordecai wasn't usually there when I was taking my leg apart.

"That looked really bad. I know, you don't feel any pain in your leg, but that just looked really, really bad." he commented.

"It's alright. I'll have to clean the parts when we get back to Sanctuary, though, there's probably some sand in them now." I said and enabled the nerve connections again. I could feel my leg again. I carefully moved it and it still worked fine, as if it was completely new. Perfect.

_"Aha! A breakthrough! We all know that the Pandoran atmosphere is _chock full_ of benign spores. The gas mutates the spores already present in our lungs."_ Tannis then said through the ECHO while I was taking apart the microchip.

_"Oh. Wonderful." _Lilith commented sarcastically.

_"The spores spread to the brain, taking over the nervous system. The subjects are left nearly mindless, like a slag-huff addict or a music enthusiast." _Tannis told everyone. I had managed to crack open the microchip and get the part I needed. Now it was only a matter of minutes until we were up and running again.

_"I have disappointing news. I lack the expertise necessary to synthesize the gas and create our own legions of plant-human hybrids." _Tannis then announced. I wasn't sure if she was disappointed not to be able to get the antidote or if she was more disappointed in herself for not being smart enough, after calling all of us stupid.

_"Again, not doing that." _Lilith answered and sighed. Tannis scoffed loudly. Judging from Lilith's general mood, Tannis could be glad she was in her hidden panic shelter, because she'd be dead otherwise.

_"You sound just like that university ethics board. No matter. Return to the Backburner and send me those samples."_

_"I'm running out of Eridium, so I'm gonna make one last sweep for survivors. See you back at camp." _Lilith echoed them. I wondered if she had given up on Mordecai and me or if she hoped we'd make it back on our own. Maybe she had managed to pick up our ECHO signature and was coming to get us. But I doubted it. This thing was still too weak. Not for long, though.

_"Please send me those samples as soon as possible. I have made every preparation and completely disrobed so that there is nothing between me and the laboratory-grade mylar of this biohazard suit. The sensation is... very satisfying." _Tannis echoed the Vault Hunters. I connected the amplifier with the right wires and fixed them up as quickly as I could. I nudged Mordecai.

"Hey, can you check if I'm turning up on the map?" I asked him. Mordecai looked at the ECHOmap quickly and smiled.

"Yeah, you're there. Is it working?" he wanted to know.

"Let's find out." I replied with a grin and tried to get through to Maya. It didn't work the first time, but the second time I seemed to be able to get a connection.

"Maya, can you hear me?" I asked.

_"Nova? Is that you? I can hear you, but the connection is bad. Where are you? Are you with Mordecai?" _she replied promptly.

"Yeah. Our ECHO devices got banged up pretty bad, so we gotta make do. Let me see if I can get a better signal." I told her and started fastening up the wires. This would hopefully work.

_"Hey, bandit king. What's up with the scanner?"_ I heard Gaige ask.

_"Oh, that's on me! Yeah, um, I was scanning my glutes, for reasons, and, uh, and I busted that science thing. Just give it a little bandit high-five."_ Vaughn answered her. In the background I could hear the bioscanner getting smacked.

_"Ah, there we go."_ Gaige mumbled.

_"Scanning bio-signature." _the robotic voice of the scanner announced.

_"I love that sound." _Tannis commented.

"Should be working perfectly now." I told Mordecai and handed him the ECHO device. He looked at me questioningly.

"You go and talk to Lilith, I'm gonna fix the other one up. I know what is wrong with them now and I know how to fix it, so it's gonna be quick." I said.

"Alright then." Mordecai replied and took the ECHO device out of my hands and handed me the other one.

_"Vault Hunter, over here. Tannis is working on an antidote. In the meantime, let's find a way back up to Sanctuary." _I heard Lilith say after I fixed the issue with receiving communications. I quickly took another part out of the microchip and built it into the ECHO device.

"Yo, Lilith! Me and Talon and Nova got a nice perch out by Mount Scarab. We might've found a way up to Sanctuary!" Mordecai echoed. Hopefully this would be over soon and we could all go back home.


	40. Chapter 39 or Back In The Game

_Songs: KALEO - No Good; The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright_

"Yo, Lilith! Me and Talon and Nova got a nice perch out by Mount Scarab. We might've found a way up to Sanctuary!"

_"Mordecai! Good to hear from you."_ I could hear Lilith say, just as I finished fixing my own ECHO device. Time to get back to the others. Regroup and retake Sanctuary. If that was still the plan.

"Ah, I wasn't gonna let you fight this one without us. Aw, crap! Brace yourselves - bunch of Hector's salad soldiers are headed your way!" Mordecai told them. I grabbed my rifle and went up to him.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Hector's guys are running off towards them. I think they are, at least. Judging from the map. You got everything sorted?"

"Yeah, I'm all good. You know they'll be able to track our ECHO signature now, too?" I said to him.

_"Ellie, it's time for a fight! Those defenses ready?" _I heard Lilith say. She started to sound really tired.

_"Almost! Could use some help getting more turrets online. V-H, there's a bashwrench on the table over there. Grab it for me, will ya?" _Ellie echoed.

_"Got it!"_ I heard a familiar voice. It was Anouk. Thank God, she was still alive and not back in Sanctuary. I wasn't too happy she was right in the middle of all the fighting, but we were on Pandora, after all. It was better than being turned into a plant monster by this Hector guy. Count your blessings and all that.

"Thank God you're alive, Anouk." I said to her.

_"Nova? You out there?"_ she asked.

"Yeah, I'm with Mordecai, we're okay for now. Be careful, okay?"

_"Sure thing. You know me."_ she replied. I sighed. That was exactly the problem. I knew her and I knew she wouldn't be careful.

_"Those things'll fix anything with a few thwacks. I set up a badass choke point just outside of camp. Get them turrets humming, Vault Hunter." _Ellie instructed all of them. I just hoped those defenses were really as good as she said.

_"This'll be a primo kill-zone once you fix up them turrets. Give 'em a thwack with the bashwrench. One more turret should do it." _she continued. I looked down at my ECHOmap and saw a big horde of ECHO signatures approaching the camp. Had to be Hector's troops. This was bad.

_"Just in time! I see them viney sumbitches comin'. Let's whack them weeds!"_ Ellie shouted. I let out a relieved sigh.

_"Defend the camp!" _Lilith ordered.

_"Yeah! Defend my camp!" _Vaughn agreed with her.

"Uh oh." Mordecai suddenly said. If Mordecai said 'uh oh' it was usually really, really bad. I looked up from my ECHOmap.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Get down. Can you turn off our ECHO signatures?" he replied.

"Yeah, but it'll take a second and it might not work with our ECHOs. Why? What's wrong?" I wanted to know.

"Do it. Now!" he said. I quickly turned off my ECHO signal, which meant we couldn't talk to Lilith and the others at the moment. We could still hear them. Hopefully. I then turned off the signal on Mordecai's ECHO.

"Okay, you have me freaked out. What did you see?" I asked.

"There were a few scouts out there, looked like Hector's troops." he answered.

"How many of them?"

"Just two scouts. They must have noticed the ECHO signatures in the area. Thing is, if we take them out, they'll know we're here. Only thing we can do is try and stay low for now and hope they don't notice us."

_"Hell yeah! You might look and smell like a Vault Hunter, but you totally fight like a bandit... and that is the HIGHEST compliment!" _I heard Vaughn say over the ECHO. He was starting to get somewhat amusing.

_"Tannis, any updates?" _Lilith asked.

_"Well, I cannot produce an antidote. But I have traced the gas to a scientist named Cassius Leclemane." _Tannis replied promptly.

_"Woah, Cassius? I know that science dude! I'ma call him now!" _Vaughn exclaimed. I could hear some fiddling with an ECHO device in the background.

_"Yo, Cassius! Hey, it's Vaughn!"_

_"Vaughn, hello! Uh, I'm rather busy on a... secret project." _a man answered on the other end. He sounded fairly old.

_"Gotcha, gotcha. Super quick question. Uh, did you plant-monster up my bros?" _Vaughn asked.

_"I would never plant-monster up your bros! Hector swore that... ah, I see. I've been tricked into working for an evil megalomaniac. My bad." _Cassius replied, as if it was a thing that happened regularly. Maybe it was. You never knew.

_"Hey, happens to the best of us, bro!" _Vaugn answered laughing.

_"Come to my secret entrance is through the old Dahl mine! I'll begin working on an antidote immediately." _Cassius said. At least he sounded like he was an honest and upright guy.

"Okay, I'm gonna need to tell Lil we have a good view of the mine from here. Get ready to shoot." Mordecai said to me and then turned his ECHO signal back on. He took a deep breath and got back in position to watch the mine.

"I got eyes on the mine, Lilith. I'll let you know if I see anything." he echoed her. I had my SMG ready, so I could watch Mordecai's back, in case any of them went through the cave entrance before Mordecai could get them.

_"Keep me posted, Mordecai . The Vault Hunter will meet you there." _Lilith said. Hopefully they'd get here soon.

"Shit. They already noticed us. And they brought a bunch of friends. We're vastly outnumbered." Mordecai told me.

"Fuck. Time to run?" I asked. I saw him nodding.

"We can at least try." he replied and held out his arm for Talon. Talon came flying towards us and landed on Mordecai's arm.

"Talon, keep watch over the camp. When the Vault Hunters get here, you lead them to me and Nova, alright?" he said to him. Talon cawed and flew off again. Mordecai looked after him for a little while and then turned to me.

"Alright, let's go. We can probably make it into the bandit camp and take them out, hopefully we can wait it out there." Mordecai replied. I nodded and we climbed through a hole in the wall of rock to get out of the cave. We were pretty high up and had to quickly climb down the rocky surface.

"This way!" Mordecai said. As I looked back, I saw a whole lot of soldiers approaching the cave. This was a close call. Mordecai and I ran across the desert plain doing our best to avoid any attention. We saw Talon circling over us and the cave. Hopefully, this would go well. When we had made it to the bandit camp, we encountered the next difficulty. The thing had a locked gate.

"Shit. Let me have a look at this, might be able to crack it." I said and looked at the little control panel next to it. I took off the casing and checked the wires. I was pretty sure, the blue one would do the trick...

I took the knife I had on my belt and quickly cut the wire. Mordecai was watching out that Hector's soldiers wouldn't get to us. They seemed to be busy inspecting our old lair, though. Shortly after I had cut the wire, I heard the gate rolling up. I stood back with a smile on my face.

"There we go. Got it open." I said, a little proud of myself. My smile faded when I saw what was behind the door. It was a wall of vine-freaks, just standing there, waiting to take us down.

"Oh no." I mumbled next. Mordecai gave me a horrified look. This was not what we had signed up for.

"Hold them off for a little bit, while I run and get to a vantage point!" Mordecai shouted and started running through the masses of plant monsters that now started slowly approaching me.

"Great, yeah, let's do just that." I mumbled as I started spraying them with bullets. I didn't even aim at this point, there were way too many of them. That's when I heard Talon shrieking loudly.

_"That's Talon, Mordecai's new bird. I think he's trying to tell us something. What's that, Talon? Mordecai got attacked by vine-freaks?" _I heard Lilith's voice over the ECHO. Oh thank God. That meant that the Vault Hunters had to be close. I could really do with a little help.

_"Vault Hunters, follow Talon!" _Lilith said, just as I ran out of bullets and had to reload. The wall in front of me had thinned, but I had taken a few hits and my shield was almost down. I took a deep breath and just pushed through them, running towards a building, while I was reloading.

_"Still haven't heard from Mordecai. Keep following Talon. We've lost too much already. We can't lose Mordecai. He's the best scout in the Raiders. We've been fighting together since the beginning. Mordecai, Brick, Roland... we had each other's backs, we fought together. That's how we survived for so long. When Roland died, Mordecai got me through some dark times. Couldn't have taken down Jack without him. The Crimson Raiders wouldn't be the same without Mordecai."_

Lilith's words were starting to fill me with panic. I was too busy to realize before, but with the overwhelming amount of vine-freaks coming at us, there was a good chance one of us or even both of us wouldn't make it.

I got out of my hiding place and continued shooting wildly at the vine-freaks again, when I heard the sound of the gate rolling up again. I really hoped that was the Vault Hunters and not reinforcements.

"Talon, to me!"I heard Mordecai shouting. Talon quickly sailed over my head to where Mordecai was. I looked back and saw everyone fighting through the vast amounts of vine-freaks. Maya, Zero, Gaige, Axton, Salvador and Krieg. And Anouk was with them, holding up pretty well.

"Over here, guys!" I shouted and waved at them, before emptying another magazine into the masses. It was insane how they were just everywhere. Behind every little corner, some sort of plant bandit was hiding. And I was almost out of bullets. This was my last magazine, after that it was point blank with a sniper rifle.

"You okay, Nova?" I heard Anouk's voice next to me. They had made it up to where I was and I was grateful, because I was barely holding up.

"Just about holding up. You alright? You seem to be doing well out there." I replied while smashing a psycho's head against a house wall. I was surprised that didn't bring the entire house down.

"Thanks. This isn't as hard as it looks. Or maybe it's just the adrenaline, who knows." Anouk answered. This was when I noticed I was out of SMG ammo.

"Can you cover me for a sec? I'm out of ammo." I shouted over the sound of bullets flying and people screaming.

"Sure thing!" Anouk replied, as I stowed away my SMG and got my sniper rifle ready. I would have digistructed my shotgun with the microchip in my leg, but there was no time for that now.

When I looked back up, I saw that the others had pushed on further already. Maybe I could get a chance to snipe from a safe distance. I nodded at Anouk and she went ahead towards the rest of the group, while I stayed a little behind. I couldn't really snipe from too far away, because the situation was incredibly messy and I didn't want to accidentally shoot one of the Vault Hunters.

That's when I saw Mordecai down in the middle of everything. What was he doing down there? He must have gotten ambushed at his vantage point. This was bad. There was an infected bruiser right behind him.

"Watch out, Mordecai!" I shouted, but it was too late. Mordecai turned around just in time to stumble backwards and not get hit right away. He kicked the bruiser back a little bit and loaded his rifle as the bruiser came running back at him. It killed the bruiser, but the recoil hit his ribs badly. They had healed up kind of alright during the last few weeks, but this was too much. He went down on his knees, unable to get up.

_"Yo, Vault Hunter, hurry up! I'm pinned down! Need an assist!" _he echoed, while he was on the ground coughing.

_"Hang in there, Mordecai. The Vault Hunters are coming." _Lilith replied quickly. I got up from my position and ran towards him. There weren't too many vine guys left at this point and I was worried sick about Mordecai.

_"Vault Hunters, hell yeah! Let's show these salad soldiers what the Raiders can do!"_ he shouted while coughing and holding his ribs. He was trying to keep the remaining salad soldiers away from him, but that seemed to be all he could do at the moment. I did the best I could to keep them away from him while making my way towards Mordecai.

_"Get him to his feet. I'm on my way." _Lilith echoed us. I saw Krieg finishing off the last one while shouting about a meat bicycle.

"Mordecai! Shit, what were you thinking? Running ahead alone like that?" I asked while I got a health vial out of my belt pouch as quickly as my shaky hands allowed it. If I wasn't in such a panicked state, I probably would have bawled my eyes out.

"I'm sorry, querida. Thought I could do it." he replied and coughed, as I jammed the health vial into his veins. I saw a purple flash out of the corner of my eye. That had to be Lilith. I helped Mordecai back up on his feet after I had finished with the healing hypo.

"Oh, man..." he mumbled and coughed again. What was up with all that coughing? He didn't do that a minute ago.

"You alright?" Lilith asked.

"Lilith... those pendejos...crop-dusted me." Mordecai answered. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Here I was, thinking we had just about made it.

"Damn it! Mordecai's infected... this is my fault. We need that antidote. Now. I'll take him back to camp. Get through that mine and find the scientist." Lilith told the others. I was still holding onto Mordecai, too much in shock to let go of him yet.

_"Excellent! I eagerly await your arrival!" _Cassius echoed back.

_"Good luck at that Old Dahl mine. I heard that place was haunted. Cursed haunted!" _Vaughn chimed in.

"Come on. Let's get the two of you home." Lilith said to me and Mordecai. I just nodded, as we disappeared in a purple flash.


	41. Chapter 40 or Recruitment Efforts

_Songs: Iron & Wine - Slow Black River; The Prodigy - Breathe_

We got back to the camp and I was still shaken about what happened. About how close I had come to losing Mordecai and how that was still possible if we couldn't find an antidote fast enough.

_"What, did you think I'd leave my flank exposed to counterattack? That's basic military strategy. I already reinforced that door with three feet of solid tritanium, you dumb-dumbs. Point, Hector!" _Hector echoed us the instant we got back to the camp. I helped Mordecai sit down somewhere sheltered.

"This guy's a four-star asshole, but again, he's right. That gate's too thick for me to phase through. Come on back to camp, and we'll figure it out."Lilith told the Vault Hunters. She looked at Mordecai and me.

"I'm gonna go and get Zed, you guys wait here." she said.

"Thanks, Lil." I answered with a weak voice. She gave me a reassuring smile and disappeared. I knew it was a fake smile. Lilith usually put on some fake confidence in situations like that and I couldn't possibly blame her.

"Hi, uh... I'm Vaughn." I suddenly heard a voice behind me. I turned around and saw a small guy standing there. He had glasses on, messy brown hair and a beard. So he was the guy from Helios that we had been doing recon on. I recognized the face and stature, they were pretty unique.

"Hi Vaughn." I answered with a smile.

"Is... is he okay?" he wanted to know.

"Not really. I hope he will be, though." I said, squeezing Mordecai's hand in my own. He looked down at both of us.

"I'm right here, you know?" he replied and coughed violently.

"How are you feeling, Mordy? Really?" I wanted to know.

"The recoil hit me right in the ribs again. I think one of them hit my leg. Feeling kinda dizzy, not sure if that's from the leg wound, from being infected or because I'm really tired." he told me.

"That sounds bad. You'll be okay, though. Lilith's gone to get Zed over here, he can help you with most of that, hopefully. Vault Hunters should be back any second, hopefully we can make a plan to get that antidote as soon as possible." I said.

"Okay, that's... that's good."

"So, uhm... you guys been going out for a long time?" Vaughn suddenly chimed in. He was probably trying to lighten the mood and make some small talk, but damn, was he bad at it. At least he tried, though.

"About six years. Or seven? I don't know at this stage." Mordecai answered and coughed. I raised an eyebrow.

"More like one or two years. We weren't really going out back then."

"Yeah, we were."

"We were friends with benefits or whatever."

"Yeah, almost the same thing. Fact is, we both had a crush on each other at the time, so it counts, right?"

"I dunno..."

"Oh my God, it doesn't count unless you had the talk. Zed, there's Mordecai. Knock yourself out, but don't hurt him." Lilith chimed in. She had just gotten back and Zed was following her, an almost childish smile on his face. Of course he was looking forward to this. As I looked up, I could see the Vault Hunters approaching the camp.

"They're back." I said to Lilith. She nodded.

"Yo, killers. Over here." she echoed them. They came jogging over to us, looking pretty exhausted from the fight.

"Anyone got a quick plan on how to get through that door right now?" Lilith asked. No one said anything. She sighed and shrugged.

"Guess that's a no. Okay, how about we all go and take some time to come up with an idea. Don't take too long, though." she said to them.

"Vault Hunters! Could you help me out with a recruitment drive?" Vaughn blurted out, once Lilith was finished. She gave him an annoyed look which made the poor man flinch a little. Lilith really didn't like it when someone questioned her authority.

"I mean, they're not gonna come up with anything by just sitting around and being miserable." he said quietly. Lilith sighed again.

"Fine. I guess you're right. They're all yours." she said.

"Cool. So, that attack pretty much killed or mutated my whole clan, the Helios Hellions. Could you show the bandits in the area that we're the best by, y'know, slaying enemy bandit leaders and staking claim to their territory? Basic stuff. That's a real let down. There were some tough ol' bastards in the crew... But hey! Comes with the territory, right? Bandit liiiife!" Vaughn said to the other Vault Hunters while Lilith went to sit down. She buried her head in her hands and just stayed like that.

"Sure. I can go and do that. Anyone coming with me?" Anouk offered. I raised an eyebrow. I felt like I should be going with her on that. But I also didn't want to leave Mordecai behind. What if this was the last bit of time I could spend with him?

"Nova, you go with Anouk." Lilith suddenly said from her place. I gave her a surprised look. Why did she think that was a good idea?

"She's right, Nova. I know you'll only be miserable sitting here and worrying 'bout me. Go and kill bandit chiefs with your daughter. Show her the real Pandora experience. It'll distract you." Mordecai agreed.

"But... I can't leave you now... what if..."

"No. Whatever you're gonna say, it's not gonna happen. I'm gonna be fine. We'll find a way to get that antidote and I'll be fine. Go and do this, alright?" he said. I mean, he was right, but I'd feel really bad leaving him behind.

"Alright then... but if you get worse, echo me. Okay? I'll come back and I'll stay with you. Promise me you'll tell me."

"I promise. Now go and do the thing, alright?" Mordecai said.

"Okay, so. What do you want us to do, Vaughn?" I asked.

"Cool, see those banners up on the tower? Go, pick them up, then place them somewhere else. I'm sending you the locations in a minute." Vaughn told us. I nodded and looked up to the tower. There was a ladder, so at least it would be easy to get up there.

"I'll go and get them." I told Anouk and jogged over to the stairs leading up to the ladder. It didn't take me long to get all the way up there, remove the two flags, roll them up and take them down, so Anouk could pack them up.

"Here you go. Fly our colors over your victories so everyone knows it was us!" Vaughn said proudly as we left for the first location on our map. It was in the Dahl Abandon. Looked like we had quite a long way to go.

"Let's get a car for this. It'll take us hours otherwise. I don't wanna be away for too long." I told Anouk. She nodded and waited for me as I quickly went through the motions of digistructing my personal favourite type of car. Hearing Scooter's voice from the Catch-A-Ride station still made me feel quite upset. Once the car was digistructed, we hopped in.

"Hey, I'm sorry for what happened." Anouk said.

"It's alright. Stuff like that happened a million times at this stage already, I just... I just get worried every single time still." I replied.

"Yeah, no shit. I'd get worried, too. Anyone would get worried. I mean, did you see the state Lilith was in? She's done nothing but worry, since the whole thing went down." Anouk answered. I nodded.

"Yeah, she does that a lot. She thinks everything's her fault, when it's not. She takes stuff like that really hard. But well. At least you're safe for now, though. I was worried when we were all scattered around the place." I said.

"I know. I was worried, too. And I still haven't heard from Jael." Anouk replied. Oh shit. I had completely forgotten about her.

_"My Helios Hellions used to be called the Children of Helios, but it sounded a little... culty? So we did some rebranding. The guys were pretty excited about it, until I told them there weren't any actual branding irons involved." _Vaughn echoed us, as we got out of the car. Time to get to the camp.

"Yeah, that's Pandora for you." I answered as we made our way into the camp. I saw the place where Vaughn probably wanted the flag.

"You want me to put the banner down over there?" I asked him.

_"That's the spot! Now raise the flag so everyone knows this is our turf now!"_ he replied quickly.

"Alright. Anouk, can you cover me?" I asked, as I loaded up my shotgun and started running into the bandit camp. I could already hear the shots from her rifle and the screams from a few bandits, as I was placing the flag.

"This is our turf!" I could hear someone shouting and all of a sudden a crowd of bandits charged at me. A good few of them died on their way to me, because Anouk took them out quickly and efficiently.

_"Defend the flag, Vault Hunter!" _Vaughn echoed us.

"What do you think we're doing?" I replied while reloading my shotgun. Anyone who came up too close got a shotgun blast in their face. It took a few minutes until they were all dead, but we barely even broke a sweat. Maybe me going with Anouk wasn't such a bad idea after all. Seemed like we worked well together.

_"Oh, you killed that guy so hard! On to the next one!" _Vaughn said. I checked my ECHOmap for the second location.

"Alright, looks like the next one isn't very far from here. Let's head there and get this over with." I said to Anouk.

"Sounds good." she replied, as we climbed back into the car.

"So. Jael's probably gonna stay here on Pandora and with the Raiders. You okay with that?" I asked her. Anouk sighed.

"Yeah, I think so. It'll take some getting used to, but it'll be fine. Gives me an excuse to come visit more often. But I know she wouldn't be happy working for a corporation or anything like that." she answered.

"You like her a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I just... hope she's okay. Well and alive out there." Anouk told me. I smiled at her.

"She'll be fine. I don't know her as well as you do, but from what I know, she'll be able to lay low and get out of any situation. We'll try our best to find out where she is, okay?" I said and stopped the car.

"Are we here?" Anouk asked. I nodded.

"Same drill?"

"Sure."

I climbed out of the car with my shotgun in my hand while Anouk got her sniper rifle ready. We stood on top of some rocks for a while assessing the situation.

"You know what? I'll just run and gun through there and hope my shield will get me through. Once I'm up where the flag is, they won't be able to get to me that easily which should give me some time to deal with the bandit chief and then work my way back down." I said. Anouk nodded.

"Yeah, sounds good. Be careful."

"I'm always careful." I answered with a grin. Anouk raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's why you have a robotic leg."

"Okay, that was, like, a Vault Monster which is completely different!"

"Whatever you say." Anouk said and laughed.

"Let's finish this." I replied and started running into the bandit camp. The place where Vaughn wanted the flag wasn't too far away, but there were a lot of bandits that just came running at me at full speed.

I did my best to dodge their bullets and quickly stomped up the stairs to the top of one of the buildings, so I could put down Vaughn's flag. My shield was almost depleted, but it should recharge soon.

_"You know the drill! Fly that flag!" _Vaughn echoed me, as I was at the flagpole. I quickly hung the flag up and turned back, just in time to see the bandit chief running at me.

_"You ain't claimin' MY territory!" _he screamed, as I shot at him with my shotgun. He was on his last leg when I had to reload my shotgun. Thankfully, my shield was back online and I could take a few shots. I did my best to reload quickly and managed to get it done just before my shield got depleted. I took him out with one clean shot_._

"Alright, Vaughn, we're done here." I echoed back to the camp.

_"Great! We already got some recruits showing up! Come on back, we need to initiate you too!"_ he said. Well, that wasn't part of the deal, but I guess it couldn't hurt to be part of a bandit clan. If you could call Vaughn's clan a bandit clan. It wasn't really. Not even when his people were still alive.

"Alright, let's go back. Vaughn wants to initiate us into his new clan or something." I said to Anouk as I came back to her. We got back in the car and quickly drove back to the camp. Thankfully we weren't too far out and the drive only took a few minutes. As we ran back into the camp, Vaughn walked towards us.

"Look at all these recruits! Fantastic. Now it's time for the initiation. Climb up there and follow my instructions!" he said to us and pointed at a few psychos and bandits standing there and waiting around. We went up the stairs and climbed the ladder to his initiation platform and met up with the other few people.

"Recruits! I... am the mighty bandit-king, Vaughn!" Vaughn shouted up at us from below the platform. Anouk and I exchanged a glance.

"Woo." one of the more normal looking recruits said unenthusiastically.

"Good effort, Jerry. Being a bandit means being tough as nails! Prove you've got what it takes by leaping off that thing! Vault Hunter, show 'em how it's done!" Vaughn said. Was he serious? We were supposed to jump off that thing? I sighed.

"What the hell, man." I mumbled and jumped down from the platform, making sure to land on my robotic leg. It hurt a little, but other than that I felt nothing. Good on me for having that leg. Anouk quickly followed me and rolled off on her back just before landing. It seemed to be pretty painful and her shield shattered in the process, but it looked like she'd survive with just a few scratches.

"How'd you do that without dying?" I asked her, as she sat up. She just shrugged and fumbled for a health vial.

"I'm used to a higher gravity, plus I did that rolling thing, so it wouldn't hurt too much." she replied_._

"Well... if they can do it, so can I!" one of the recruits said.

"Yeah! They're not tougher than me!" another one agreed. We watched them jump off the platform quickly and get smashed into mush. It wasn't a pretty thing to watch and I wondered if Vaughn knew we'd have a shot at surviving this or if he just chanced the whole thing. He probably chanced it.

"Cooool." Vaughn commented, staring at the smashed corpses a little too long for comfort. He laughed nervously.

"Looks like they put the 'fall' in 'trust fall'! Heh. Wow, well, I am proud to welcome you to my new clan, The Vaughnguard! It's just you, though. Uh, you're the only survivors, but I guess two new clanmates is better than none, right? Anyway! Welcome to the clan! Here's your goodie bag!" he then said and handed each of us a small bag full of cash.

"Well. That was fun. Even though that's not how you recruit people." Anouk said and walked back to the rest of the group. That's when I got a message from Moxxi that went out to everyone.

_"Hey, sugar. I've got something important for you."_


	42. Chapter 41 or Space Cowboy

_Songs: First Aid Kit - Walk Unafraid; Charlie Parr - 1922 Blues_

We were all standing in front of Moxxi's bar and waited for her to tell us what she wanted us to do. Something about this sounded really, really important, so everyone felt they had to go. Even Anouk. Moxxi looked like she was a little overwhelmed by the sheer crowd of people standing at her bar.

"Okay, so... In case you didn't know, my son, Scooter, he... well, he died recently. He went out the way I always saw him: as a hero. I've said my own goodbyes, but before we rushed off Sanctuary, I found an ECHO in Scooter's things. Says it's for you, Vault Hunters." Moxxi said to us and carefully placed an ECHO recorder on the counter. So this was really important.

We all waited for a second, unsure of who should pick up the ECHO from the counter. It felt like it would be a massive honour to do it and none of us really wanted to assume they were the chosen one.

"Just... just take it. Nova?" Moxxi said to us. Okay. That looked like I was the chosen one. I carefully took the ECHO recorder from the counter and pressed play as everyone else gathered around me.

_"Hey, Vault Hunter! In the highly likely event that I got deadened by like, a dinosaur, or a big explosion or somethin', I heres-to-by name you the Executioner of my last william best-ament."_

"Oh, my sweet, dumb boy." Moxxi said quietly and sighed. I could count the times I had Moxxi seen sad on one hand and this was one of those times.

_"Okay! First off, collect all my best girly mags for posterior-ity! Once you done got all them skin rags, you make sure and find 'em a good home, 'kay?"_ Scooter's voice said. I paused the recording.

"Alright, then, there are some locations here... three of them. Are we splitting up to go and find them?" I asked.

"Sure. Let's do it." Maya replied. I nodded and sent the locations to everyone standing around me.

"I'll go with Maya and Krieg." Salvador said.

"I suppose that leaves me to go with Zero?" Axton asked.

"If you want, then Gaige, Anouk and I will get the third one." I replied. There were nods all around and we gathered up in small groups.

"Alright, ladies, let's get a car and get this done. I'm starting to worry about Mordecai again." I said to them, as we went towards the Catch-A-Ride.

"How is he doing?" Gaige wanted to know.

"He's been having a nap when Anouk and I got back, so I didn't want to wake him. He seems really tired and exhausted and... sorry. Let's just not talk about it, okay?" I replied quickly.

"Don't worry. We'll find a way. Somehow." Gaige answered and smiled at me. I smiled back weakly.

"Thanks, Gaige. That's nice of you to say." I said.

"I'm not just saying it, you know. I mean, we found a way to replace your leg and make it, like, way cooler than before and no one thought that was gonna happen anytime soon." she replied.

"Yeah, I suppose. I'd just rather not dwell on all the options, you know?" I told her as I requested a car and waited for it to finish digistructing. We all hopped into the car and drove off towards the location I had picked for ourselves. It wasn't that far from the camp, so we could go back anytime, if we needed to.

_"Okay, guys, we got one here called Chestworld. Anything on the recording for that?" _Axton echoed as we were getting closer to our marked location.

"Hold on a second, I'll check... Yup, there is." I told him and played the recording for everyone on the line.

_"Chestworld was definitely one of my favorite strainin' manuals. I mean, shoot, I never did meet a bustier I didn't like. Momma taught me that word, mmmm hm mm."_ Scooter's voice said. I didn't really want to laugh, but that just made me giggle a little. Scooter has always been a boobs guy and we've had many conversations about that. For some reason that was never weird or awkward once we had broken up. I heard Moxxi sigh loudly over the ECHOnet.

_"Mordecai, honey, Scooter asked us to find a home for his, uh... wagmags. You interested?"_ she asked next.

_"Oh, wow, uh... that's... I really couldn't accept such a... generous offer." _Mordecai echoed back and coughed. If Moxxi tried to give Scooter's girlie mags away to people among the Raiders she'd probably have a bad time.

"We're here." Gaige said and I braked hard. We climbed out of the car and looked around for it, expecting it to be on some crates or something like that. But then I found it. It was just lying there, in the sand. It showed a woman holding a rakk. The title was Racks & Rakks, which was admittedly pretty creative.

"We got one, too." I echoed the rest of the group and started playing Scooter's recording again.

_"Racks & Rakks is THE premiere quarterly for those interested in hot babes holdin' onta scary birds! Kind of a particular demographic, but I ain't here to yuck anybody's yum, know what I'm sayin'?"_

_"Brick? Scooter wanted us to find someone to take his porn stash. Any interest?"_ Moxxi chimed in again. I just shook my head. If Moxxi had no success with Mordecai, then Brick was even more unlikely to take Scooter's porn stash.

_"Hell nah, I ain't tryna see that." _Brick replied promptly.

_"We found ours as well, guys. Hit the play button."_ Maya echoed us right after that. We headed back towards the camp, as I played the message for the last magazine.

_"I know Siren's Call ain't got real pic-a-tures of real Sirens but uh, that ol' fap fiction still gots the job done! Haaaa!"_ Scooter's voice said. In my head, I could see Lilith cringing at that. Hard.

_"Hey, Vaughn? Any chance you're looking for some lightly-used girlie mags?" _Moxxi tried one last time with a sigh. Okay, Vaughn was kind of a wildcard here. I'd expect any answer from him.

_"Aw, gee. Gosh, that's a real nice offer, but um... Uh, no? Bandit liiiiife!" _he replied to her. Poor Moxxi. Vaughn might have actually worked.

_"Well. Waste not, I guess. Just bring 'em back to me, and I'll hold on to them for now." _Moxxi echoed us.

_"Now this time, I'ma predict that y'all took a quick boomer break in the dookie hut. Like right now. Right when you're listenin' to this. Enjoy that dook, y'all!" _was the last bit we heard from Scooter's recording, as we got back to the camp and handed Moxxi the magazines. She took them and stashed them away in a small safe.

_"For my next predict-she-ow-nay, I bet everyone got into a freakin' free-for-all riot to get their mitts on those primo tissue issues. Extrasensory future sight, y'all! WOOOO!" _Scooter's voice said when I played the next bit of the recording. Uncomfortable looks all around and an awkward silence, as I paused the ECHO recorder.

"Okay. That was all extremely uncomfortable. But now that it's over, let's see what else he wants." Moxxi finally broke the silence. I would have never thought Moxxi was uncomfortable with anything, but it seemed like she could be full of surprises. Who would have thought Moxxi could be embarrassed?

_"For my next last wishes, I officially transfer ownership of the most sweetest-ass business on Pandora, to my most favoritest sister. I'm talkin' about Ellie." _Scooter said next. I paused the recording again and looked at Moxxi questioningly.

"What are you looking at me for? Call Ellie over here, so she can hear this!" she said to me. Right. My brain was getting kind of foggy as all the memories of Scooter came back. That, and Mordecai being infected with that plant virus just had turned my brain into mush right there and then.

"Oh, Scooter." Moxxi mumbled with another sigh.

"Ellie, can you come over here for a second? It's really important." I echoed her.

_"Sure, I'm on my way." _she replied. It didn't take long until she got over to us. We all looked at her, a sad expression on our faces. It must have been a pretty amusing sight, if it wasn't such a sad occasion.

"Well, hey there, cutie pies! What's this all about?" Ellie asked, after none of us said anything.

"Ellie, Scooter wants you to run the Catch-a-Ride." Moxxi said to her when none of us really answered.

"Aw, dang. I knew this day was comin'. It was nice just hearin' his voice comin' out of those janky-ass speakers, but... I'll do it." Ellie replied. I held up the recorder and pressed play again.

_"Ellie, if you're listenin' to this, it means I've become a super-ghost on that big racetrack in the sky, drivin' ghost cars round the sun an' shit. Sorry, sis. I'm sure you're real sad and all, but you gots ta keep them runners runnin' for me, okay?"_

"Bye bye, Scoot. And... thank you. Welp, guess we'd better record some new lines for the Catch-a-Ride, huh?" Ellie said after that. I was close to tears again. God, I really missed Scooter. And I kind of wished I could hold onto his Catch-A-Ride lines forever, but Ellie was right. We had to move on at some stage and this was what Scooter wanted. I mean, we were hearing it out of his own mouth.

"Alright, I'll record them, you go down to the Catch-A-Ride and see how it sounds, okay?" Ellie suggested.

"I'll go!" Salvador offered and ran down towards the station.

_"This is where the cars live! Get you one!" _Ellie's voice came from the Catch-A-Ride. No. It just didn't sound right. Ellie was shaking her head.

"Hm. It don't feel right aping his catch-phrases like that. Tell you what, gimme some time and I'll come up with some new ones." Ellie said to us.

_"It says something about transferring ownership here..." _Salvador said to us next.

"Oh yeah. Let's do it." Ellie replied.

"This feels like the end of an era." I mumbled.

"It does, doesn't it? Anyway... Alright! Looks like the transfer is complete. Why don'tcha give it a whirl?" she replied.

_"Get you a Big Beautiful War Machine right here, y'all! Catch-a-Riiiiide!" _we heard Ellie's voice coming from Salvador's ECHO.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty good." Axton said and gave Ellie a smile.

"Thanks, Vault Hunters. Let's see what else Scooter wanted you to do." Moxxi answered. She seemed relieved that this had gone over well.

_"And finally, whence-fifth I depart from this mortal plane, do me the honor of reverently laying down a totally righteous memorial in my name, then do A SICK-ASS BOOSTER JUMP OVER THAT THANG! WOOO!" _Scooter said.

"I've actually been workin' on a li'l something at his final-resting-place-slash-impact-crater. Why don'tcha meet me on out there and see what I whipped up?" Ellie suggested. I couldn't believe she hadn't told us about this earlier.

We all went out to get cars for ourselves (which took a good while, since we were a pretty big group now) and drove towards the place Ellie had marked for us on the map. It was a pretty easy-going drive out into the desert. The memorial itself was a massive platform with a ramp from which you could do a huge jump in a car. It was perfect. There was a billboard there as well, but it wasn't lit up. We all climbed up on top of the platform to where Ellie was standing.

_"Now I'm sure you done gone and passed out from dehydration on account of cryin' over me, but don't you worry. I lived my life exactly the way I wanted to, even when - no, ESPECIALLY when folks told me not to! Rules is for FOOLS! I made that up just now, I'm a genius! Death ain't holding back my brilliant mind!"_ Scooter's message said next.

"Okay, this ramp? I'd do a sick ass jump over that any time." I said to Ellie. Salvador nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know. It's pretty awesome. But I think it needs just one final touch, don't you? I couldn't decide between righteous flames of furious fury, or sick-ass danger-arcs of electric badassery. Do whatever you think is right, Vault Hunter." Ellie said.

"Scooter always struck me as a fire kinda guy..." Axton remarked.

"Yeah, same." Maya agreed.

"So we'll go with fire?" Gaige wanted to know. There were nods all around.

"So fire it is?" Ellie confirmed one last time.

"Yeah. Fire." I replied. She went over to light up the memorial. There were flames spewing out all along the ramp. It looked badass. If Scooter could have seen this, he would have loved it.

"Maaannn, that's lookin' sweet! Now it's time to christen this bad boy! Go ahead and show me one of them Outrunner boost jumps over this thing! Let's get this freakin' party started!" Ellie said. We all went and got a car - all eight of us - and lined up to do the jump one after the other. We didn't even need to talk about it, it was just the most logical thing to us. Anything else wouldn't have made sense.

Just before we went down I pressed the play button on the recorder again. I was sure Scooter would want us to hear his last few words as we did the sickass jump to remember him. Then we all went down. I pressed the booster button just in time to gather enough speed to get up over the ramp.

_"Catch-a-riiiiiiiiiiide!"_

It was like Scooter was right there with everyone of us. It was then that the billboard lit up as well, showing Scooter's face the way he used it on his ads. I didn't really have time to read what it said, but everything about this was just amazing. This was truly the best way to remember Scooter.

_"Hooo-leee crapsicles! That was amazing! Scooter would be so happy if he coulda seen that righteous badassery! You did right by him. Thanks, V-H." _Ellie echoed us from the top of the platform, just as I managed to get the car to stop.

_"I know Scooter wasn't exactly everyone's cup of tea, but he was a good man. And that's one hell of a rare thing on Pandora. It would have meant a lot to Scooter that you did all this. It did to me. Thank you, Vault Hunters." _Moxxi said next. She was right. Scooter was one of the best, no doubts about it. He might have been a bit peculiar at times, but she sure raised him well.

_"And for my finalest of final words. I just wanna say... thanks. I always wanted to be a Vault Hunter, but never really had the stuff for it. Y'all gave me a cause worth fightin' for, an' made me feel like family. And since we all family now, y'all gotta look out for my best girls, Ellie and Moxxi, 'kay? And as for me? I gotta catch me a ride to heaven, y'all."_


	43. Chapter 42 or Breaking Into Helios

_Songs: Three Days Grace - Get Out Alive; Caesars - Jerk It Out _

"Okay. Team meeting.We need to punch through that gate somehow. Cassius is our only chance of saving Mordecai, AND retaking Sanctuary." Lilith said to us as we all gathered in the little shelter that was now serving as our HQ. I was really looking forward to getting Sanctuary back. There were just so many memories in that place, we couldn't just give it up. Not like that.

"Tritanium's chunky stuff, Lil. Gonna take one helluva weapon, and what we got here ain't gonna cut it." Ellie replied and sighed. That sounded bad, but it was probably realistic, though. Fuck. I felt a wave of desperation surging over me as I glanced over at Mordecai. This just couldn't be it. It couldn't.

"Yo, Lilith - what about the Helios moonshot?" Mordecai suddenly chimed in. The moonshot? But how... Oh. That was a possibility and a pretty good one at that. That might just save Mordecai. And Sanctuary.

"Yeah, that could work. Bandit, you lived on Helios for a while. Think we can get the moonshot cannon working?" she asked, turning to Vaughn. He flinched a little at first and then nodded quickly.

"Oh yeah, totally! But just so you know, to get into Helios, you're gonna have to go through... The Burrows. Have fun! Don't die!" he answered. Okay, I had no clue what exactly was in the Burrows, but we would find out soon enough. Lilith sighed and then nodded slowly and heavily.

"I don't love using Jack's weapons, but if it gets the job done, I can live with it." she replied. Vaughn grinned at her.

"Ohohoho, man! This is exciting! Surviving the Burrows is a bandit rite of passage! Y'know what? If you make it through, you can be my Vice-Warchiefs!" Vaughn said to all of us, looking excited.

"Okay, let's do this. Nova, do you wanna go with them? I'd understand if you'd prefer to stay here-" Lilith started, but I had already made my decision.

"I'm going with them. All I can do here is worry about Mordecai, but if there is only a slight chance we can save him by fighting through the Burrows, then I'm helping you with that. I'm more useful doing that than sitting here and fussing over everything." I told her. I was still afraid I'd come back from the Burrows and find Mordecai turned into a plant, but we had to go and try our best to stop that from happening.

"Alright. Go ahead with the others then. Let's get this done and get Mordy back up on his feet." Lilith said to me. I nodded.

"I'll see you in a bit, Mordy. Don't die on me, you hear?" I told him. He gave me a weak smile.

"I'll do my best." he replied. I heard him coughing again, as I turned around to follow the others who were already busy digistructing cars. It hurt my soul seeing him like this and I knew I'd end up being a complete mess if I stayed with Mordecai and had to watch him get even worse.

"Hey, Nova, you wanna go in my car?" I heard Gaige shouting at me. It looked like Anouk was already sharing a car with Maya, so I nodded and jogged over to them. I was glad, Anouk seemed to make friends here on Pandora. That meant she'd have a way to get by in case... in case anything happened to me.

"You want me to drive?" I asked Gaige when I had gotten to her.

"Sure. I'm no good at driving and I'm not planning to learn it while we're doing important stuff." she replied and jumped into the gunner seat. I got in the driver's seat and started the car, putting on the booster as soon as I could. We had to get to the Burrows quickly, so we could get that antidote.

_"You actually brought an infected soldier back to camp? Man, I keep thinking you've mined the idiot shaft dry, then you go and strike a big ol' vein of dumbass." _we heard Hector saying over the ECHOnet while we were driving through the desert, slowly getting closer to the entrance of the Burrows.

"What an asshole." I said to Gaige, just as I heard Lilith let out a frustrated cry over the ECHO.

_"He'll get his soon enough. Focus on Helios." _she told us.

_"Alright, so these tunnels are sacred bandit territory. And I'm totally breaking the bandit code by telling you how to get in. But, anyone who could tell 'em is already dead! So, just bust down that electrified gate, and you're in! The sandworms definitely won't escape probably!" _we heard Vaughn's voice next.

"Okay, this looks like it. Of course there's bandits hiding out here." I mumbled as I parked the car behind some barricades.

"Gaige, hit 'em with the rocket launcher!" I shouted as her and grabbed my own sniper rifle, just as everyone else arrived. We were in a pretty good hiding spot and Gaige blasting the bandits away with a rocket launcher would probably distract them from me sniping them at the same time.

We quickly killed off the bandit hordes with the help of everyone else arriving. It was mostly Salvador who chose to run them all over in his car right when he arrived. The other few were greeted by a hail of bullets. I climbed out of the car that had a bit of smoke coming out of it now.

"So the secret door, huh? Should be behind that little wall there." Maya said while reloading her gun.

"Let's go then, before our car explodes." Gaige replied and ran ahead. We followed her and there was indeed a flimsy gate that had some electric sparks coming from it. Krieg ran at it with his buzzaxe and hit the door which promptly collapsed down to the floor. We all gathered at the cave entrance.

_"Don't get eaten! Oh, and tell the sand worms I said: blqhngngnblaqaq. They'll know." _Vaughn echoed us and chuckled a little.

"Off we go then." Axton said and crouched to get into the little cave. We all followed him and soon found ourselves in a small entrance way that led into some bigger caves. There were big vines all over the rock formations and it looked like the salad soldiers had already set up camp here.

_"My hypothesis was correct. Hector is using your Vault Key to mass-produce the gas. Soon he will have enough to blanket all of Pandora to create his 'paradise'. But everyone on Pandora will die in the process! He's really got our test tubes in a centrifuge." _Cassius echoed us as we made our way up a rocky path that would hopefully lead us through the Burrows and to Helios.

_"Oh, so you got that video I sent then? Waiting on the reply."_ Tannis echoed back. I raised an eyebrow but didn't really think about it too much. I probably didn't want to spend any time thinking about it, if I was being honest.

We went down the other side of the pathway and found ourselves in a sandy place with lots of vines growing on it. The vines had pods on them and as we slowly walked through the area one of the pods broke open and an infected bandit fell out of it. As soon as he got up he came running at us.

"Shit, destroy the pods before they crack open, guys!" I shouted, as I started firing my SMG at the bandit that came running at me.

"Careful, sand worms!" Axton shouted at the same time. Great. Two problems at once. And all of Pandora might die, if we didn't kill this Hector dude. Brilliant. We fought Handsome Jack and all of Hyperion to get where we are now, just for a guy to take all that from us again. With plants.

_"What the hell do you think you're doing? Aw, doesn't matter. I've already won. Here's how this ends: Me, presidin' over paradise. You? Twisting your mutated limbs into a knot and dying alone like a sad pretzel. Point, Hector." _Hector echoed while we were doing our best to destroy the plant pods while they hatched. Axton, Salvador, Maya and Zero were going after the sandworms while we were doing that.

"Where do we go now?" Maya shouted while finishing off a bandit that had just fallen out of a pod.

"Looks like we'll have to make our way through that jungle over there!" Gaige replied and pointed her gun towards a tunnel that was overgrown with vines and flowers. There was lots of glowing green pollen floating around in the air.

"Aw, shit, do we have to?" I asked.

"Yup, that's the only way. Hold your breath as much as you can." Maya replied. I sighed and reloaded my gun.

"Alright. Let's do this." I mumbled as we slowly made our way through the tunnels. It was really difficult to see, the only light provided being the light from our ECHO devices and from the glowing pollen. The air was hot and dusty and the paths through this tunnel had gotten so narrow, it was difficult not to panic. I felt like I was about to lose it any second. All I wanted to do was take a deep breath and start running out of this claustrophobic place. But that would probably end with me getting infected and eaten by some plant. Either way, I'd get myself killed.

"We're almost through it!" Salvador shouted. He had gone ahead of all of us and I could see him in the distance waving at us. I quickly made my way over to him, hitting a few rocks and plants in the process. I'd come out of this place looking like I was beaten up by a bandit mob if I continued like that.

We gathered around the exit of the tunnel and looked ahead. There was another big cave. Just in front of us there was a door that opened. We all quickly got down and only carefully looked out of our cover.

There was a bandit coming out of the door, his gun raised, as if he was looking for something. After he didn't see anything he seemed to be a little more at ease, carefully lowering his gun, but still looking around. That was when we heard a loud thump and something big jumped down behind him and knocked him out cold. It was none other than Brick.

"Hell yeah! Eat knuckle, shrub!" he shouted down at the lifeless bandit. We all got out of cover and came running towards him.

"Brick! Oh my God, is this where you've been hiding out, since you left?" I asked him and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, Nova, good to see you. Yeah, I've been out here most of the time. Was a cosy place before these guys showed up." he said to me and then turned to the rest of the group who were all happy to see him again.

"Yo, Slabs! I heard Mordy was in danger, and you were wrecking face to help him! I'm in. Follow me!" he told them.

_"Brick, you're here? I know we haven't always seen eye to eye..."_ Lilith echoed, as we started following Brick deeper into the Burrows.

"Yo, Lilith. I got bones with your leadership style. But as long as Mordy's in trouble I'm on the team! Nothing else to say." he replied to her. God, I was never so glad that the two of them were besties. I still had no idea if we could manage this whole operation, but having Brick here made me feel a little better.

_"Then I'll leave you to it - do what you do best, Brick." _Lilith told him, while he smashed a psycho's head in. I wondered what exactly it was that had made Brick leave. Lilith didn't want to talk about it and neither did Brick, so none of us really knew what was going on there.

"Mordecai's been on my ass about getting a non-punching hobby, like gardening. Hahahahaha! But the jokes on him! 'Cause now, I get to do both." Brick told us while we were fighting through hordes of plant monsters. This would have been fun, if it wasn't such a serious mission. And if Mordecai was here, too.

"I got a green thumb and four green knuckles! Let's go prune some shrubs!" Brick kept saying as we found another whole camp of vine-freaks. But with nine of us now, we ploughed through them in no time. I don't think I even got to shoot any of them, before they were all gone.

"What now, Brick?" I asked him. He just shrugged.

"Saw some more shrub dudes up ahead. Nothing these weed whackers can't handle!" he replied and held up his hands. We went on ahead and started making our way through more and more infected bandits.

It was easy enough to get through them, but I was surprised at how many people were infected already. It was difficult to get an idea of how many people were living on Pandora, since you wouldn't really see most of them. Lots of them were bandits and would hide out in their camps. Then there were all the people living around the planet in all the small settlements. Many of them were killed by Hyperion and none of us had any numbers or any idea on how many people Hyperion had actually killed. And I mean, we all had killed our fair share of people as well.

We soon got closer to some sort of structure. There was broken glass all over the place, steel beams and big panels that probably were walls a while back were lying around all over the place. This had to be Helios. All of those parts looked very Hyperion. My suspicion was confirmed when we reached a door that had the Hyperion logo on it. Damn, that brought back some bad memories.

"Damn! Been awhile since we fought Hyperion, but you got no flab, Slab! Haha! More shrubs comin' at us! Let's mow 'em down!" Brick said to us. There weren't as many of them as earlier, so we could get through them really quickly again. There was a door that seemed to be leading into the space station, but it was blocked off by a shield.

"Brick, Anouk and I will go looking for the shield generators." I shouted over the noise of screaming psychos and bandits.

"Sure thing! Gotta meet her properly when this is all over!" Brick shouted back at me. I looked around me and saw Anouk jogging towards me, casually shooting one of the bandits in the head on her way.

"I'm here, looks like there's two shield generators. Wanna split up and look for one each?" she asked me, catching her breath as she got to me.

"Sounds good. I already saw one somewhere over there. You wanna look for the other one?" I replied. Anouk gave me a thumbs up and disappeared again.

The shield generator had been on one of the pillars around the place. There were a good few flower pods ahead of me. I quickly shot at them all until they burst open. At least that way there'd be less unpleasant surprises for me when I was done with the generator. I quickly ran over to the pillar and smashed the button to disable the shield, before I started shooting holes in the generator.

_"Keep smashing!" _Brick echoed.

"One of the generators is down, Brick. Coming back to the group now." I let him know, as I made my way back towards the door.

_"I disabled the second shield, working on the generator now."_ Anouk echoed us, just as I could see all of them again. Just when I caught up with all of them, the shield was gone completely.

"Yeah!" Brick exclaimed triumphantly as he saw the shield disappear.

_"Coming back now." _Anouk echoed us.

"Careful, auto cannons!" Maya suddenly announced, just in time for us to see them get deployed. Shit. I started firing at one of them, hoping they weren't extremely tough. They shattered almost immediately. Only then I realized that with four guns pointed at each of them, the auto cannons were never going to last long.

"Good job everyone! But we're not done yet. Let's show these pricks whose planet this is!" Brick said to us before we all moved on into Helios.


	44. Chapter 43 or Blast It

_Songs: Horslips - Dearg Doom; The Stunning - Brewing Up A Storm; The Chemical Brothers - Galvanize_

We followed Brick inside the abandoned space station and watched him punch some sort of big massive pipe.

"Timber! Hahahaha!" he screamed as the pipe fell over slowly and created a bridge for us to walk over. When I looked back at brick, he was holding his hand, as if he had hurt himself while doing that punch.

"Bruised my cuticle on that one. Hell yeah!" he said next. I sighed. I knew the day would come, when he'd hurt himself while punching something and here it was. He looked a little more apprehensive about going into Helios right now.

"I'll post up here. You get in there and blast those fools! Mordy's life is on the line!" he said to us.

"Alright. Keep us updated on everything, okay, Brick?" I said to him.

"Of course. Now get in there and blast that mine open." he replied. I nodded and started balancing over the pipe. I made the mistake and looked down right when I had made it halfway across to the other side. It went down pretty far on either side. Shit. My knees started feeling weak, as I continued onwards, hoping I'd make it all the way over to the other side.

_"You got this, Nova. You're almost there." _I heard Gaige's voice over the ECHO. I took a deep breath and quickly walked the rest of the way, collapsing on the floor after I had some solid ground under my feet again.

_"How was it?" _Axton asked. I looked up and saw Zero balancing over the pipe as if he'd never done anything else in his life. Axton was up next.

"Kids' play." I mumbled and laid back down, waiting for my racing heart to calm down. I saw Zero walking past me and into something that was probably a hallway back when Helios was up in the sky.

_"Alright, time to practice some botany! See ya at the Backburner, Slabs." _Brick echoed us. Axton sat down next to me, looking pretty done with everything.

"Dear God, that was stressful." he said to me. I sat up and looked back at the pipe. Anouk was just balancing over it and she didn't look too stressed out.

"You afraid of heights, Axton?" I wanted to know. He shrugged.

"I wouldn't say I'm afraid of them, I just don't particularly like them." he answered. Yeah, I could get that.

"Same here."

"Now, Salvador over there is dead afraid of heights. He's gonna have a bad time with this." Axton told me. I saw Salvador standing at the other end of the pipe, looking very distressed. Poor guy.

"Come on, Sal, you got this!" I shouted at him. He looked up at me and cautiously set foot on the fallen pipe. The whole thing made a squeaky noise. This really wasn't good. But he had to make it across the pipe, he was the last one still on the other side and we didn't have forever.

"Don't look down, just get it over with!" Axton told him.

"I LOOKED DOWN!" Salvador shouted. I buried my face in my hands.

"JUST GET OVER HERE ALREADY! It'll be worse the longer it takes, because I'll personally get you, if you don't hurry up right now and chances are that one of us will fall!" I replied. I definitely wasn't going back over that pipe ever again, but Sal didn't have to know that. He quickly made a few steps and then slowly, but surely walked over the pipe until he ended up at our side. We were complete again.

"Okay, guys, through here." Maya told us and went ahead into the hallway.

_"Alright! Time to wreak vengeance on the loader bots that Hector hacked to murder most of my clan."_ Vaughn announced as we turned around the corner. The stupid plants were even in here, growing throught the walls of Helios.

_"There's more important things at stake, bandit. We need that moonshot cannon to clear the way to Cassius. He's our only hope of curing Mordecai."_ Lilith replied. She sounded anxious and stressed and I really hoped that didn't mean Mordecai had made a turn for the worse. We walked through some sliding doors.

_"Right! Of course. Totally. Yeah-yeah-yeah. But I'll give you a ton of cash if you also wreak my vengeance." _Vaughn echoed as we shot our way through a big room with lots of containers and crates lying around in it. Maybe this was some sort of loading bay or something, but right now it was crawling with infected bandits and I don't think anyone of us had any idea on how to get to the moonshot cannon.

"Hey, bandit king, any idea on where we have to go from here on? Looks like we're in some sort of cargo hold or loading bay, not sure what exactly it is." I asked over the ECHO. If he worked on Helios, it might be worth a shot asking him about it. Even though I didn't think he'd have the floor plan memorized.

_"Uhm... I'm not 100% sure, but there should be an elevator somewhere and that should get you on the right floor at least. Then I might be able to help you out more."_ Vaughn replied to us. Well, that was a start.

_"No elevator in this room, but the next room over here seems to be some sort of cargo hold, so maybe we'll be lucky there?"_ Anouk echoed us next.

"Anouk? How did you check the whole room already?" I replied as we made our way over to her ECHO signal.

_"Didn't see anything that looked like an elevator, but there sure is one here. I could use a little help, though, 'cause I'm getting swarmed."_ Anouk answered. Oh, for God's sake. Why would she run ahead into a horde of infected bandits.

"On our way!" Gaige echoed back and ran off towards the next room. With a sigh I started following her quickly into the other room. It was full of infected bandits. I could see Anouk standing on some sort of platform with a gun that looked like she had just picked it up from the ground, firing ammo rounds all around her.

"Looks like she found the elevator." Gaige commented.

"Holy shit." I mumbled and started making my way towards her. There were two guns at her side just lying on the ground. She probably ran out of ammo and had to use whatever else she could find.

_"Get onto the platform, everyone, I don't think we can kill them all, and I can't hold them off for much longer, either!" _Anouk echoed us.

"Jesus, Anouk, what were you thinking, running ahead like that? It's dangerous!" I said when I got to her and started defending the elevator platform from the infected bandits. They were relentless and they came from every direction.

"I'm fine, I just ran out of ammo. Twice." she replied and nodded towards the guns on the floor.

"Why didn't you say something earlier? I was worried."

"I still had ammo earlier. I'm okay, I know what I'm doing." Anouk answered and kicked one of the psychos back against a metal beam which split his head open. Maybe she was right and she knew what she was doing, but I was still worried. At this time everyone had made it to the elevator platform and I hit the button. The elevator started moving upwards slowly and soon we weren't under fire anymore.

_"Say, did anyone stop for a second to think about Hector's plan? Dude hijacks your ship to spread a mutated spore-seed-whatever gas to make Pandora a paradise? I mean, it's pretty righteous! Elevators, huh?"_ Vaughn babbled on over the ECHO while we were all standing on the elevator platform in silence.

_"Focus! Moonshot cannon. Get it working. Blow open the door to the mine."_ Lilith chimed in. She sounded really angry right now and I could absolutely understand why she would be mad.

"So where do we go?" I asked Vaughn as we made our way through a long hallway and ended up in a room full of boxes with ammo.

_"Where are you right now?"_ Vaughn asked us.

"Some sort of ammo storage room." I answered.

_"Oh. Yeah. That place. You can literally just follow the corridors from here on and they should lead you to the moonshot cannon. Can't miss it."_ he replied.

_"So, does anyone actually know how to use this thing? We've gotta blow open that door." _Lilith echoed us again, sounding more worried than angry now. Oh no. Of course no one had thought of bringing someone who knew how to use the moonshot.

"I mean, I can try my best..." I said, but was interrupted.

_"Waaaaait, wait-wait-wait-wait-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-WAIT! Hold up, HOLD UP! You gonna fire the biggest cannon on the whole muckabluckin' planet, and you didn't call ME?! I am offend."_ Tina chimed in on our conversation. Of course. Tina would probably find a way to figure it out.

_"Tina, it's... it's a war zone between us and Helios. I'm not putting you in danger." _Lilith protested.

_"Lily, girl, I hear you, but I'm your demolitions expert! And now the Vault Hunter is inside and you can bamf me in to help out with the mission and I wanna so bad please it's probably my birthday!"_ Tina complained, as we entered some sort of robot factory. The sign on the door had said Loader Bay #24, so we probably had to fight our way through some loaderbots on the way.

"_It takes a lot out of me to teleport anything besides myself, it's not as easy as -"_ Lilith started saying, but was interrupted by Tina wailing.

_"PUH-HUH-LEAAAAASE! I WANNA USE THE BIG SPACE GUN! IT'S ALL I'VE EVER WANTED!" _she cried.

"You know, Lil, she kinda has a point. If anyone can figure the moonshot out, it's Tina." I said to her. Lilith sighed.

"_Fine." _she said. We had just managed to disable the last Hyperion bot when the New Pandoran guys came at us again on our way to the next room. If we continued on like this, I'd run out of ammo myself, soon. And I had just stocked up in the other room beforehand. This was insane.

_"You're almost to the moonshot control room! I took my bandit oath there with my right hand on a Hyperion account ledger, and my left hand on a still-beating skag heart! Man, I could stress-eat some skag hearts right about now." _Vaughn echoed us. Well, at least that was some good news. We followed the corridors, just as Vaughn had told us to and soon got to another room where we were greeted by a purple flash.

After we weren't blinded anymore we could see an exhausted Lilith with Tina next to her who was vomiting her guts out. Yeah, I remembered that one time Lilith teleported me for shits and giggles (when she was still on the Eridium) and it wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. I threw up a lot that day.

"YES! That was AWESOME!" Tina shrieked as soon as she was done vomiting. I had to admire the energy of that girl. I definitely didn't feel like that after getting phased somewhere by Lilith.

"Okay, Tina, I hope this was worth it. I'm just gonna... rest here for a sec... You take care of the moonshot." Lilith said to her, breathing heavily and leaning on her knees. She got exhausted pretty easily, since she had cut back on the Eridium, but at least she wasn't melting people anymore.

"Lily, I got this. Listen UP, class in session! This is Ballistics 101, and I am Professor Boom! FIRST LECCIÓN! Those regular moonshot shells ain't gonna do SHIT against big ol' metal doors! We need that GOOD good armor penetration. So, whilst I start constructing the missile, your homework is to get the explosivos that are goin' inside. Class DISMISSED!" Tina said to all of us.

"Okay, guys, I think I'm gonna stay here and help Lilith look after Tina. You guys go ahead and get the explosives, I'm probably better off helping out with the construction." I replied while glancing over at Lilith who looked like she was about to pass out any second now. Poor thing.

"I ain't need any help, I got this, girl." Tina protested.

"Yeah, maybe I wanna have a look at the big space gun, too. Come on, we can construct the missile together, it'll be fun." I said.

"Only if I get to name it." Tina replied. I nodded.

"Deal."

"Okay, now you guys go and get the explosives while us women get to work on the important stuff." Tina said to the rest of the group. They just shrugged and went off to find some explosives on the way.

"Alright, how about you go and start with the missile construction while I have a quick chat with Lil?" I asked Tina.

"No problemo, auntie." she replied and went off to work on her construction plan. I knew Tina would do a good job with that missile and she didn't need my help, but I needed some time to wind down right now. Plus, I liked to have a quick look over Tina's plans for explosives just to make sure she wouldn't split the planet in half or something like that. Not that I didn't trust her abilities, but she was a teenager, after all.

"You alright, Lil?" I asked as I sat down next to her. She was pale and had dark rings under her eyes. She definitely didn't look alright.

"I'm just pretty exhausted." Lilith answered.

"You're not just exhausted. Lil, don't let this get to the point of a meltdown again. We've been through this whole routine so many times." I replied.

"I know, I know. It's not that easy, okay? I just... I mean, this is all my fault. I should have seen something like this coming. I should have taken some responsibility sooner and started making a move or something. I should have done better when I phased all of you out of Sanctuary. If I had paid more attention we wouldn't all have been scattered and Mordecai wouldn't be infected. My point is, I'm horrible at this leading thing and I don't think I can do it for much longer." Lilith told me.

"Lil, none of this is your fault. Hell, you got us out, that's why we're alive in the first place. You're doing a great job. Everyone makes mistakes, but you're here to learn from them. You can't learn if you blame yourself." I replied. I don't know for how long I've been telling her this now, but it came up again and again and at this point I could only hope and pray that Lilith would bounce back from this endless cycle.

"I know all that. In my head. But I can't get rid of feeling guilty and feeling like it all boils down to... to me blaming myself for Roland's death. If I hadn't gone in there, he might still be alive right now. Or Jack might have died sooner and we could have avoided a lot of... all this." Lilith said and gestured at the room.

"Lil, it wasn't your fault. None of us can know how things would have played out if you hadn't been there. We might as well all have died in there, because we couldn't have... taken out Angel, if you weren't there to help. It's over now. What happened, happened." I replied. Maybe Lilith really needed to leave this planet and go on a long extensive holiday. Maybe she wasn't ready for this job after all. But to be fair, none of us were ready for that kind of responsibility.

"I know. I try and keep telling myself that, but it doesn't really help." she said. I sighed. I was at my wit's end. I really had no idea what else to tell her. I could easily tell her that she probably should try and get some help, but we were on Pandora. And we had stuff to do here. There was just no way we'd find someone... maybe, if Tannis was to come around in any way, but I somehow doubted she'd be a great help to Lilith. But she seemed to be the only one with the necessary expertise. At least with the necessary theoretical expertise. And she seemed concerned about what happened to the Raiders, as well.

_"Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, that'll do. MORE!" _we suddenly heard Tina shout into her ECHO device.

"You wanna go and check on Tina? I think I need some time to myself for a while." Lilith said. I nodded.

"Alright. Watch out for any loaderbots or infected bandits coming your way, there is loads of them around here." I told her before making my way over to Tina. She was sitting at a console, a few notes scribbled around a sketch of a missile.

"How's it going, Tina? They got the explosives yet?" I wanted to know.

"They got some of them. Need more for this lady, though." Tina told me without looking up. I took a look at her plans and quickly skimmed over the notes. It looked good and safe enough. As safe as we could afford, really. Tina definitely had the job down to a T. She might be a little insane, but she was a genius.

_"We found some more, are those good?"_ Anouk asked over the ECHO. Tina brought up an ECHO transmission and looked at the explosives Anouk was showing her. Then she smiled happily.

"HOMEWORK COMPLETE! A'ight, I'm bored. Different bit! Now you're a lovesick aristocrat who pines for the hand of Contessa Aorta Heartsworth. I shall play the part of the celestial imp, Cherubian. If my love-arrows are to fly true, you must purloin two stabilizer fins. For when I shoot her. Blat!" Tina echoed them back and then turned to me, glancing at the sketches I was holding.

"So, whatchu think? They good? Ooh, don't say it. I know they good. They fine. They damn fine." she said to me with a big smile on her face. I nodded.

"Yeah, they're really good. This is gonna be fun." I replied.

"It iiiiiiiiiiiis!" Tina answered and turned back to her ECHO transmission. I saw a hand that looked suspiciously like Salvador's hand pick something up from one of those yellow Hyperion chests.

_"Uh... this any good?"_ he asked.

"Aw yeah. This love-missile gonna have wings like a... like a big dragon!" Tina squealed. She moved to a different transmission and this time it was Maya holding up another stabilizer. Tina nodded approvingly.

"Love is in the air, mon amie. Return posthaste!" she told them. I raised an eyebrow. All those romance references didn't just come out of nowhere...

"Have you been watching cheesy ECHO shows with Mordy again?" I asked her. She nodded proudly.

"Indeed, I have."

"I swear, if you continued that one show without me, I'm gonna be real pissed!"

"We didn't. I promise. No spoilers."

"Good. You better not, I wanna watch that show with all of you." I said, just as the other Vault Hunters came back.

"I started thinking about dragons and made this. Load them explosives!" Tina said to them and revealed the missile she had been working on. The missile literally had a little dragon on top of it. Zero came down to the missile and started attaching the explosives to the rocket slowly.

"Careful. Caaaaareful. CAREFUL! Careful." Tina told him while he was doing that, making everyone more nervous than we already were.

"Now slap them wiiiings on there. Contessa Aorta is gonna be swoonin' over your badonk in no time." she said after he was done. Maya was carrying the two stabilizers and made her way down to us, attaching the wings quickly.

"Rrrrromance! Verily, and stuff. Okay, now, uh... go salvage a power core from the bot bay. Not really feeling a shtick this time." Tina told them and they went off again, back to the loader bay we had just come from. God, hopefully this was all over soon, so I could at least stop worrying about Mordecai.

"Sorry if I'm being a bummer, I'm just worried about Mordy and I want to help out but it's scary 'cause I don't want to lose him. He's my friend." she suddenly said into her ECHO. I glanced over at her and this was one of the very few times I had seen her actually look nervous and worried.

"Can I be... mega-real? Sometimes I feel like if I don't keep moving, I'll just... stop? Maybe it's a defense mechanism? Whatever. It's nothing. Sorry I'm buggin' you with all this sad crap. Forget it." she added.

"It's alright, Tina. Same here. We're all worried about Mordy. If you don't feel up for it anymore, we can swap, alright?" I said to her.

"Thanks. I'm good for now." she replied and sighed.

_"You guys might wanna see this." _Salvador echoed and chuckled a little. Tina opened an ECHO transmission and we looked at one massive Hyperion bot. At the side you could see his name was... Uranus. Tina started giggling quietly, but it soon turned into full-blown maniacal laughter. At least she was feeling better, I guess.

"Its name is like a BUTT! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE! GAHAHAAAA!" she roared with laughter, while the Vault Hunters did their best to destroy the turrets that were mounted on Uranus.

"DOES URANUS HURT? AHAHAHAHAHA!" Tina shouted next. I looked at the transmission and it seemed like the bot was almost destroyed. Thank God. That thing was pretty big and it seemed like there were a good few other loaders around.

_"We almost got it down, Tina."_ Gaige echoed back, just as one of the bots arms fell off and he just exploded right after that.

"AHA! HAH! Hahaha. Hah. Heh. I needed that! I'm back, bugaboo! Get that power core!" Tina replied. I saw Axton pick up the power core.

"HAH! Back to me, Vaulty Vault!" Tina said to him, as he started carrying it off on his shoulders. Thankfully they didn't have to go too far to get the powercore for Tina, so they were back pretty quickly. I was starting to get nervous again and was pacing back and forth next to the missile.

"F+! F is for fantástico. Remember the homework thing? The - the bit? Whatever, you done good. Plug in that core!" Tina shouted, as soon as Axton stepped back into the launch room. He walked up to us and plugged the power core in.

"Okay, what next?" he wanted to know.

"Now look. I'm not gonna lie. I wanna arm that cannon. But you know, if you wanna, if you really really wanna, then you do you. But I wanna do it." Tina answered and looked at Axton expectantly. He shrugged and walked up to the button, but I managed to stop him by gesturing wildly at him.

"Please lemme push the button. It's... it's my birthday... okay, it's not my birthday, but I only lied because I really really really really really really really really wanna arm the cannon, pleaaaaase!" Tina added and started sobbing dramatically. Axton looked over at me, a confused expression on his face, while Tina started sobbing even more. I just slowly shook my head.

"Please?" Tina asked again and started full on wailing now. Axton took a deep breath and looked at her.

"Hey Tina, you wanna do the honours?" he replied.Tina looked up with a big smile on her face.

"Really? REALLY really?! Oh Vaulty Vault, I thought you might be raisin, but now I know you chocolate chip." she said, as she started skipping over to the button while humming happily. Thank God, Axton had some common sense and let the girl arm that cannon. Mordy, Brick and I would have been hearing about it for years to come, if Axton hadn't let her do it, and I really wasn't in the mood for that.

"Yes! My dream! It's happening! Follow dis butt!" Tina shouted ecstatically and pushed the button to arm the cannon, before running off towards the lift that would take us to the main console. Lilith was already waiting inside the lift. She pushed the button once we had all squeezed onto the elevator platform.

Thankfully the lift was pretty fast and we could get out and into the main control room quickly. Tina ran up towards the main console and made a few adjustments aiming the moonshot at the mine entrance. We all gathered behind the console waiting for Tina's instructions.

"Axton, my main man, your turn to push the button." Tina said. Axton walked up towards the console, looking at Tina to tell him when to push it.

"Fire."

Axton pushed the button and we could watch through the windows how the missile was launched towards the mine entrance. It looked really damn cool, to be honest and I was a little jealous that Axton got to push the button.

_"What in the hell is goin' on down there?" _we heard Hector echo us all. He sounded a little groggy, as if he had just woken up from a nap. Which was probably what had happened, since it was the middle of the night.

The missile hitting the mine entrance and tearing right through it was beautiful to watch. We finally had a good chance at saving Mordecai and Sanctuary and Pandora again. Maybe this would end well after all.

_"Goddammit." _Hector just mumbled, right after the door was blown wide open. Tina was looking at the explosion in absolute awe.

"It's... it's so beautiful." she said in a voice that sounded almost teary. Lilith sighed and then smiled a little.

"Good work, everyone. The way up to the lab is clear. Cassius better come through for us." she told us.


	45. Chapter 44 or Old Vladof Trick

_Songs: Pearl Jam - Once; KMFDM - Me & My Gun_

"Alright, before we head back, I've got something to do here in Helios. Anyone up for it?" she asked us.

"I can do it, I'm getting nervous again." I said immediately. I really needed to be busy and I was kind of scared of what I'd find when we got back to camp.

"I'd go, too, don't need a break yet." Anouk replied while she was searching the room for more ammo.

"Perfect. Anyone else? Axton? Salvador? Would you be okay to go with them?" Lilith asked. The two of them nodded.

"Great. So here's the thing. I've found an old prototype of Angel's Chamber. We can't let that technology fall into the wrong hands. So I say we destroy it. I've sent the location to your ECHO devices, so you can go and find it." Lilith explained to us. Alright, that sounded pretty important.

"Alright, sounds good. We'll be on our way, then." I answered and got my guns reloaded and ready to go.

"Thanks. I'll get back to camp with Tina and the rest, come back once you're all done with this job." Lilith said. I nodded and waved at her, before our little group left the room to make our way towards the chamber that Lilith had marked. It looked like the room was close to Loader Bay #24, so we didn't have to walk very far.

"Man, how did people not get constantly lost in this place? Literally everything looks the same." Axton said while we were making our way through the hallways and corridors of Helios.

"You kinda get used to it when you're working for a big corporation. When I started with Vladof, it took me a week or two to find my way through the work place." Anouk replied. Salvador looked surprised.

"Really? That doesn't sound like a very long time." he said.

"Well, I could find my way from the entrance to my workplace and from my workplace to the canteen and the meeting rooms we used regularly. If anyone sent me anywhere else I was just as lost as I was on my first day. You only ever know the routes you need to know, but you usually never go anywhere else, so it's okay." Anouk answered and shrugged. Hearing that, I was kind of glad that I never started a job with one of the big corporations. It sounded kinda stressful.

_"Lilith! Wonderful news. I've discovered a predecessor to Angel's chamber on Helios! Imagine what we could learn from it!" _Tannis suddenly echoed us. I raised an eyebrow and looked at the computer terminal just in front of us. Whatever Tannis wanted to learn from it, I couldn't imagine it was good.

_"I've already sent the Vault Hunter to destroy the chamber." _Lilith informed her matter-of-factly.

"Looks like we have to hack this terminal to get in. Anyone any good at that?" I asked the rest of the group. Everyone was shaking their heads and shrugged. I sighed. I was by no means good at hacking stuff, but I had learned a little bit from Mordecai, so I probably was the most qualified to do this.

_"Destroy it?! First you deny me a plant-monster army and now this?! No! I need the data from Jack's early experimentation on Angel for my Sirentology studies. And yes, that is a word I made up. But all words are made up, so hmph." _Tannis complained while I did my best to get the door to open. It looked pretty hopeless, though.

_"You saw what happened to Angel, and to me. That information is too dangerous. We're going to destroy it. All of it. Keep going, Vault Hunters." _Lilith said. I looked at the console. This should be opening the doors. But for some weird reason, it didn't. I tried refreshing the process, but that didn't help.

"What's wrong?" Salvador asked.

"Well, this should be working, but it doesn't." I answered while staring at the console. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.

"Any other ideas on how to make it work?" Axton wanted to know. I shook my head while scanning the screen again.

"Not really, at least not at the moment... I might have to echo Mordecai, maybe he has an idea..." I mumbled. Anouk came up to the console and punched the side of it really hard. The screen went blank for a second and then the doors opened. We all looked at her completely dumbfounded.

"Old Vladof trick." she just said and shrugged.

_"Great job, guys. The chamber should be just down there." _Lilith told us over the ECHO. I looked back at the screen and then at the group again.

"Alright, guess we're in, then." I replied and started walking down the narrow corridor. It was dimly lit with what looked like emergency lighting. At the end of the corridor we found a big chamber that looked similar to Angel's Chamber, just smaller. I recognised the way it looked, and all the memories of Roland's and Angel's death came crawling back to me. Hopefully this wouldn't take long.

_"Consider this, Lilith. The more we know about Sirens, the more we know about yourself. We still don't understand where these powers come from, or how they might manifest in the future. You of all people should see the value of that information."_ Tannis pleaded with Lilith again, just as I heard a shot and a bullet was passing by my head, missing it by just a few millimeters.

"Sniper, get down!" I shouted and took cover behind a wall. Shit. Hector's people were in here as well. This was really bad. Hopefully, they didn't get any data back to Hector. Or even worse to some corporation.

"Lil, we're under attack right now." I informed here while waiting for the sound of shooting to stop.

"_Hold that thought, we're not the first ones to find this place. Vault Hunter, clear out those soldiers!" _Lilith told Tannis.

"Axton, when it gets quiet again, go and deploy your turrets. Sal, don't hold back and shoot anything you can. Anouk, the two of us will be sniping from here. All clear?" I quietly whispered into my ECHO. As I looked over at them, I saw them nodding and giving me thumbs up. Just then it quieted down.

I got up quietly and looked through my scope. I could see the sniper right there, out in plain sight. That was pretty careless. I signalled Axton, Sal and Anouk to get ready and quickly pulled the trigger. Clean headshot. Now we could only hope they didn't have more snipers here.

"Okay, we're working on clearing this place, Lil, we'll keep you updated." I informed her and aimed at the next soldier. He seemed to be just a recruit, no special armor or anything. It would be easy to get through his shield.

_"See, Tannis? Hector already sent his engineers to check out the equipment. We can't let them get it!"_ Lilith said.

_"Fine! Do your worst. Just send me the data first! We cannot pass up this opportunity!" _Tannis replied. I could hear Lilith sighing at the other end, while I blew out this recruit's brains. Poor guy probably had no idea what he had signed up for.

_"Fine. Vault Hunters, do it."_ Lilith told us.

"Sure thing, we're almost done clearing out the chamber." I replied.

"We got three left!" Anouk shouted at me.

"Only two now." Salvador answered promptly. I barely had time to check where the other two of Hector's soldiers were, before Axton informed me that we were indeed done clearing out the chamber.

"Alright. Let's upload all the data, then. Tannis, we're working on sending you everything from this place. Let us know, if you get it." I echoed her, as I made my way up to what looked to be the main console in the room. Thankfully, it was easy to get to the data from this console and it didn't take me long to get it all together and send it back to Tannis as a bundle.

"_Receiving the data now..." _Tannis said, sounding almost a little too excited. Who knew what she hoped to get from that data. I was sure being in here was pretty traumatizing for Axton and Salvador. I knew it made me uncomfortable to be here and I had only watched the ECHO transmission of the whole thing that went down in Angel's Chamber. The two of them were actually there in person.

_"This place brings up a lot of bad memories. Even after Jack... after he tortured me, I can't imagine what Angel must have gone through. A caged bird. Her whole life. She could have been so much more."_ Lilith said over the ECHO. She sounded like it was difficult for her to talk about it, but I was glad she at least sometimes tried to take my advice not to keep all the bad stuff to herself.

"We'll be right back in a few, alright, Lil? The data's just finished uploading, so we only gotta destroy this place and then we're good. Hang in there." I echoed her. Axton looked over at me.

"Any plans on how to destroy this thing without killing ourselves in the process?" he wanted to know. I shrugged.

"I dunno. We'll figure something out, I guess." I replied.

_"Mmmnh! So much data to analyze! Ah, delicious! Now, you may carry on with your smashing." _Tannis echoed us, confirming she had received all the data. I looked around the chamber to see if there was any obvious way to blow this thing to pieces. Technically we only needed to destroy the console.

_"Let's tear this place down. Good riddance."_ Lilith told us.

"Are you thinking corrosive weapons or...?" I asked her, after taking a look at the console. Corrosive always worked well against any piece of machinery, so that was probably the easiest way.

_"Corrosive, shock, whatever gets the job done. Just smash this thing to pieces."_ she replied. I nodded and grinned.

"You heard her, guys. Let's do this." I said to the rest of the group. We stood in front of the console and just fired whatever gun we had at hand at the console. There were sparks flying and there was metal melting and some smoke came out of the console until it caught fire. It was probably dead for good now.

"I guess we're done he-"

_"Unsafe Angel activity detected. Executing "Fallen Angel" failsafe protocol." _a robotic voice announced, before I could finish my sentence.

"Oh for fuck's sake." I mumbled, waiting for whatever failsafe protocol Hyperion had in store for us.

_"Ah. I will work to resolve the issue. Stay alive!"_ Tannis told us. Nothing was happening yet, so we just waited expectantly.

_"Vault Hunter, you've got bots coming your way!" _Lilith warned us. It was then that we saw several bots being digistructed around us.

"Of course, the one thing that still works in this wreck is the failsafe that kills us." I mumbled. I was getting pretty fed up with this space station right about now. Maybe I really needed that sleep, after all, even though I'd been keeping it off until the very end. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I was just really, really scared of some nightmares returning. I had a feeling about this.

_"Okay, you can stop the digistructing by destroying three circuits. I sent you some ECHOmap markers on where they should be, according to the floor plans of this place."_ Tannis echoed us after we had been fighting off the first round of bots. They were pretty tough for Hyperion bots.

"Alright, guys, I'm going after the circuits, while you fight off the bots!" I said and made my way towards the first circuit. They all seemed to be up around the platform in the middle of the chamber. There were some ladders up towards smaller platforms that were connected to the middle by some sort of light bridges. I made my way up one of the ladders and quickly ran towards the middle platform. I took out the first circuit and then went around towards the other two circuits.

"Guys, is it safe down there?" I shouted from the platform.

"All good, seems like the digistructing stopped working after the first round. I think we're done." Axton replied. I nodded and looked down. The platform looked pretty high, but I'd probably survive it without injuries if I managed to land on my robotic foot.

_"I knew I could count on you to get this done. Now come on back." _Lilith echoed us, just as I jumped down from the platform.

"You alright?" Salvador asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm tired as fuck, though."


	46. Chapter 45 or Bad Dreams

_Songs: The Last Internationale - The Autobiography of Paz; The Black Keys - Your Touch_

_"I can't do this!" I screamed. I was in tears and my hands were shaking as I held the gun out in front of me. I knew I had to do it, there was no other way or we'd all be dead, but I just couldn't do it._

_"You have to, Nova! It's too late for him, we can't help him anymore. You have to kill him." Lilith said to me. I just cried more and shook my head. This couldn't be real. I couldn't do it, there was no way._

_I looked up at Mordecai - or rather whatever he had become. It was too late for him. Oh God... this was too much. I had to do it. I just had to. I slowly aimed, as I started sobbing even more, and I moved my finger towards the trigger. This was absolute madness! How could this have happened?_

_"I'm... I'm so sorry... oh God, I'm sorry, Mordecai." I said with a shaky and teary voice, as I pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot was ringing in my ears as I watched Mordecai collapse on the floor._

I woke up screaming in a dark room. I was sweating and wrapped up in a sleeping bag and a blanket. How the hell did I get here? And what the fuck was that dream about? I heard some noise close to me and then I got blinded by the light flooding in through the door. I looked away until my eyes got used to the sudden light.

"Nova! Are you okay?" I heard Lilith ask me.

"I... Is Mordecai alright?" I asked, not sure how real that dream was. Lilith bit her lip and looked somewhere I couldn't see. I quickly got up from my makeshift bed and walked up to her.

"Please just tell me, if he's alive or not." I begged her.

"Yeah, he is alive, but I wouldn't say he's doing too well. What the hell happened?" she wanted to know. I sighed with relief.

"I had... a really, really bad dream and just wasn't sure how much of that was real and how much wasn't when I woke up. And I had no idea how I got into that room and where I was and what happened." I told her and stepped outside into the light. The sun was shining brightly.

"Ah right. You were almost collapsing from exhaustion when you guys got back. I brought you in here, so you could lie down and sleep for a while. What was your dream about?" she asked.

"I dreamt that everything was too late and I... I had to kill Mordecai, before he killed the rest of us." I answered and shuddered as I remembered just how real everything had felt. God, I really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Jesus, Nova, that's horrible. I wish I could promise you we won't let it come to that, but I can't. We'll do our best to save him, though. Come on, we are having a team meeting. I was just going to wake you up for that." Lilith said.

"Alright... yeah... we're going into the mine to get the antidote, right?" I asked. She nodded and walked up the stairs. I could hear Tina crying already. Dear God, this was bad. Tina could be melodramatic, but those were absolutely real tears. And I could see why she was crying when we made it upstairs.

Mordecai really wasn't doing too well. It was like he was overgrown with vines. He looked like he could barely move and he was still coughing really badly. But he was still alive and not fully plant monster yet.

"Oh my God... I thought you'd tell me when you got worse..." I said to him, as I grabbed his hand and got down on my knees, so I was on the same level as him. He did his best to smile at me and coughed heavily right after.

"I'm just fine..." he mumbled.

"I'll give you some time while I'm rounding up the rest of the group. It looks like those vines are anchoring Sanctuary to Mount Scarab. If Cassius can make good on the antidote, that's our way up." she said to us and went back down the stairs. Tina was still there bawling her eyes out.

"I hear... you did great... on that mission." Mordecai told me, his sentence interrupted by coughing.

"Mordy... God, please, please hang on. I can't lose you, I just... I just can't do it, okay?" I said with tears in my eyes, as that terrible nightmare came back into my mind. I started feeling really bad for going on this mission, instead of being there for Mordecai. All the panic I had been suppressing just came back with full force.

"I'll be... just fine. We can do this..." he replied. I heard the other Vault Hunters come up the stairs behind me together with Lilith. I turned around, still holding onto Mordecai's hand, carefully letting my fingers wander over all the little scars and calluses on it. This might well be the last time I could do this.

"Hey guys... I heard that from here! Called it!" Mordecai said to the Vault Hunters and did his best to smile.

"You were right. Moonshot worked, Mordecai. And you're looking... real bad." Lilith replied. I could hear in her voice that she was really concerned. Not just worried, but seriously concerned. Mordecai started coughing again.

_"Ah, your friend's infected. Excellent! That is to say, his condition is quite advanced, but not incurable. I need you to bring me a blood sample, or, as we say in the scientific community, _that good red stuff_."_ I heard Cassius' voice coming through the ECHO. I took a deep breath and hoped he was right about Mordecai still being able to be cured. It seemed like we were really running out of time here.

"Uhn uh, you ain't getting none of Mordy's blood! Back off! I am a black-belt master of kar-ate! Hyyyah!" Tina suddenly screamed at Salvador who had stepped up to get the blood sample.

"Tina, easy. And it's definitely pronounced karate." Mordecai said to her. She squinted at him and then huffed.  
"You lucky this time, punk. Was about to kar-ate yo' ass. In half!" she replied. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Tina, we need this blood sample to help Mordy. Alright? Here, I'll do it." I said and held out my hand to Salvador. He gave me the empty vial, so I could get the blood sample. I looked at Mordecai's arm and tried to focus on what I was doing. I needed to find a vein, first of all... Thanks to Mordecai being so thin, that wasn't too difficult. I was about to jam the needle into his vein, when Gaige stopped me.

"Girl, no. Nuh uh. Here, let me help you." she said and came up to me with a piece of cloth in her hands. She quickly tied it around Mordecai's upper arm and made sure it was really, really tight. Of course. I had seen this being done, so many times, but now I had just forgotten about it.

"Alright, since we don't really have any sanitizer to disinfect the area, we just gotta hope for the best. Go ahead and get that blood, girl." Gaige told me. I nodded and slowly stabbed Mordecai's arm with the needle, hoping I'd hit the vein and wouldn't have to do it all over again.

Thankfully the vial quickly filled with blood, so I probably did it right. Once the vial was full I pulled the needle out of the vein. I was at a loss as to what to do next and looked over at Gaige. She just smiled at me, produced a band aid from one of her belt pouches and put it on the punctured skin. Then she removed the piece of cloth and took the blood sample from me.

"There. All done." she said.

"Thanks, Gaige. This is more nerve-wracking than I thought." I answered. She smiled and nodded.

"I know. All good. Let's get this done." she replied and packed the vial away safely. Mordecai moaned quietly.

"Aw, man. I don't feel so great in my stamen..." he mumbled.

_"You have the sample? Excellent. Make your way to me, and we will complete the antidote. Together." _Cassius echoed back.

"Alright, guys, let's swarm out. I'm ready to do this, we literally have no time." I said and started walking down the stairs and towards the Catch-A-Ride. We couldn't waste any more time than we already had wasted.

The rest of the group quickly caught up and we made our way towards the old Dahl mine. We didn't talk much (or at least people didn't talk much to me), so it seemed like the drive took half an eternity, but we finally made it through the desert and were approaching the Dahl mine up ahead.

"_So I talked to a few bandits about that cursed haunted mine. Rumor is, some Dahl miner dudes got trapped in there back in the day. But, Stanton Dahl decided to seal the mine instead of rescuing them. No bandit has set foot near there since. Bring me back something nice!"_ Vaughn echoed us, just as we were about to walk into the mine. I sighed. Of course he'd ask for a souvenir.

"Sure thing, Vaughn. If we survive, that is." I told him and walked into the mine. Didn't look too haunted to me.

_"Stepping foot in that mine is my red line, Raider. Warning you now. Don't cross it."_ Hector echoed us right after. I looked down at myself. I just had stepped foot in that mine. I shrugged.

"Well, oops. Too late." I said quietly. The rest of the Vault Hunters started laughing and followed me into the mine. I guess we either made it all the way to Cassius and got that antidote or we'd die trying. There was no other way now.

_"Oh, that was a mistake. I'm gonna bury you, Raider." _Hector echoed us after we made our way through the mine, almost casually shooting infected bandits here and there. After everything, this almost felt like a walk in the park to all of us.

"Whatever, dude. Do I look like I care?" I replied to him. I was really not in the mood for his threats at this point. It was like having this nightmare and seeing Mordecai in his current state had finally pushed me over the edge and I no longer cared about being cautious and not dying.

_"The entrance to my laboratory is just through the mine. Simply follow the _turn back now_ signs - oh, but don't worry, the miners who were trapped inside died horribly decades ago."_ Cassius told us.

"On our way." Axton confirmed.

_"Boom! Cursed haunted! Called it!" _Vaughn shouted over the ECHO connection. I rolled my eyes. Nothing in here was haunted. We went up some stairs and then there was nowhere to continue our way.

"Cassius, we're stuck." Maya echoed the scientist.

_"Hold on, let me see where you are... Ah! No problem. One moment, I will activate the elevator to the lab." _he answered quickly.

_"Scarab 191 lost a lot of good men after Dahl left us down there to die. That's when I realized, if Pandora was going to become our paradise, we were gonna have to make it ourselves. You won't take that from me." _Hector told us while we waited for the door to the elevator to open completely.

"Oh damn... so the stories are true..." Axton mumbled, probably referring to stories his colleagues in the Dahl military used to tell. The doors to the elevator were now open and we quickly stepped inside and made our way up towards the research center. It was time to end this.


	47. Chapter 46 or Healing For Pandora

_Songs: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Run Through The Jungle; Major Lazor, Flux Pavilion - Jah No Partial; Koffee - Throne_

_"Bring the blood sample to me so I can begin synthesizing the antidote. It will be nice to see another human face again." _Cassius told us, as soon as we stepped out of the elevator. We walked into the research center and were greeted by a complete jungle. There were big massive vines growing all over the place, but there was also a narrow path leading through them.

It was awfully quiet, almost too quiet when we made our way through the vines that were spreading through the whole section. We all looked around nervously for Hector's soldiers to jump out at us any second. No way was he just going to let us pass through here. No way in hell.

"Okay, fuck this! It's too quiet." Gaige suddenly broke the silence, voicing my exact thoughts. She got some approving nods from everyone.

"True. Come on, Hector, throw some people at us already!" Axton agreed.

_"Oh my God, stop provoking him. You can all be glad he hasn't thrown his people at you yet."_ Lilith echoes us.

"Lil, sorry, but you aren't here. It's so quiet, it's actually torture." I replied to her, when we heard a shot being fired.

"WE GOT ONE!" Maya shouted loudly and started shooting her SMG. It was almost a relief that we finally had some opposition. Waiting for some of them to attack us had made us all trigger happy beyond belief. I was almost happy when someone ran up to me to attack me, so I could unload an entire magazine into that guy.

As we moved on into the next part the New Pandora guys were all over us and it would have been overwhelming if we weren't eight people going at them. At this stage we all had had a good night's sleep and we were nervous and anxious to get this job done. It really was a bad idea to attack us right now.

Salvador was humming and singing loudly as he fired his two guns into the masses of ex-Dahl soldiers. Krieg was going absolutely wild with his buzzaxe. Gaige was screaming and shouting while blasting people away with her shotgun (and Deathtrap did his part in killing, too). Maya kept phaselocking people right in front of Axton's turrets, so they got shot and couldn't even run away. Axton was just being trigger happy and seemed to have the time of his life. Zero kept disappearing and reappearing randomly, throwing grenades, sniping and slashing people with his sword. Anouk had disappeared behind cover and was dishing out headshots in quick succession, while I did the same. It was carnage. It was beautiful.

It took us maybe about ten or fifteen minutes to clear the whole room, but damn, was it a satisfying experience. I had just built up so much anger and frustration over the whole situation we were in and over Hector's snide remarks, that this was the perfect outlet for all of it.

By the end of it, I felt really exhausted, but also happy with myself. I was starting to think that maybe - just maybe - I had what it took to be a proper Vault Hunter. Maybe I could be happy with this kind of life - searching for Vaults, getting by on bounties and contract kills, travelling the solar systems. It sounded quite tempting.

"Alright, that was fun." Salvador said with a grin, as we all regrouped. Everyone was a little out of breath, but unharmed.

"It was. Where do we go next?" Anouk asked. I checked my ECHOmap. Looked like the lab was somewhere around here. There was a part of the room that was heavily overgrown with plants. Maybe that's how we could get to Cassius.

"Let's try over here." I answered and started walking towards the marker that Cassius had sent. We had to be really close, but I couldn't see any door that was leading into another room...

"Down there?" Maya asked. I looked up from my ECHOmap to what she was pointing at. There was a big hole in the floor, just about big enough to get through. I walked up to it and the marker was directly in front of me.

"I suppose..." I answered and turned off the map for now. I carefully sat down on the edge and looked down between my legs. There were some crates that didn't look too stable... I moved aside a little and then jumped down, landing on my two feet and on some solid ground.

"Alright, you guys can come down, just be careful with the crates!" I shouted up towards them. One by one the rest of the group jumped down the hole. The room we ended up in was pretty small, so it ended up being quite crowded once everyone had made it down to where the marker was.

_"Cassius, you skag-suckling traitor. You could have had a spot in paradise, but there's no room for cowards in the New Pandora. Let's see how long you can hold your breath." _Hector echoed all of us.

_"No! That maniac is releasing the gas directly into the facility! I can fix this! One moment!"_ Cassius replied, panic coming from his voice. We all looked at each other, painfully aware that this could mean the end of all of us.

_"Containment failure. Emergency lockdown initiated." _a robotic voice announced. We all looked at each other, unsure whether the gas was already in this room or if we were still somewhat safe.

_"There should be a valve that you can open to vent the gas out of the neighbouring room. Should be close to the door." _Cassius told us.

"There is one here!" Zero said and I heard some metallic noise and something that sounded like air vents after that.

_"Okay, I believe... we're in the clear. Most of the facility should still be safe to traverse. Make your way to me, Vault Hunters." _Cassius told us. We all let out a sigh of relief. For a few seconds we were all sure we would get infected as well and become a part of the plant army or die or both. That was a close one.

_"Decontamination complete."_ the robotic voice announced, as the doors opened. We all looked at each other, the relief still clearly visible on our faces.

"Alright, let's continue onwards." I said. I walked through the door and saw the next problem. We had to jump down another ledge, into a room full of vines and plant soldiers. I took a deep breath.

"Okay, prepare yourselves for another round of carnage. There's more salad soldiers down there." I whispered, just before jumping down. I quickly took cover behind one of the massive vines and aimed at the infected soldiers. I took one out with a clean headshot, before they noticed me. That's when the rest of the group jumped down to help out. This time there weren't as many of them, thankfully.

When we were finished with them we had to make our way through even more vines - some of them lashing out at us - before we climbed up to another floor. Everything was either broken down or overgrown with vines, so it was really difficult to figure out how to get to some places on the map.

_"There's an emergency console in that containment room. You can vent the remaining gas from there." _Cassius echoed us, as we walked into a room that had big glass windows and seemed to be leading into some sort of lab. Looked like we were close. The containment room looked kind of like Zed's place - scary, if you weren't used to it, but pretty standard for Pandora. The console Cassius mentioned was just opposite a big glass door. I turned the wheel and most of the plant pollen started disappearing.

_"Very good! You can now proceed without being, as my main bro Vaughn would say, _plant-monstered up_. What a sad fate that would be." _Cassius told us. Just as we were about to walk out of the room we saw some massive plant soldiers outside our room. They looked pretty nasty.

"Cassius, there's some scary guys out there. Any clue who they are? They with you?" Axton echoed.

_"Ah, yes. The armed guards. Please take care of them, Vault Hunters." _Cassius replied and started coughing.

"Great." Maya mumbled and loaded her SMG.

_"Decontamination complete." _the robotic voice announced, just a little too early for all of us to be ready. The doors opened and the guards came at us. I saw a ladder leading to some walkways higher up. I quickly made my way over to it and climbed up, my shield barely holding the shots from the plant guards.

I had a better view up here and I was more difficult to hit, so I had a little bit more time to properly take aim and get some good shots. I looked around the room. There seemed to be a good few specialized soldiers and... ah shit.

"Guys, careful, there is a sniper down here, I'll try and take him out first." I echoed the rest of the group. I looked through my scope and watched him for a little while. He was moving around a lot, but he finally had to reload. My time had come. I aimed at his head and while he was least expecting it, I put a bullet through his brain.

"Sniper down." I let the others know.

_"There's one guy hiding behind one of the tubes, can you get him from where you are?" _Anouk echoed me. I looked up and saw her give me a short wave from the other side of the grating, before I checked on whether I had a clear view of whoever she was talking about. Turned out, I had a perfect view. I quickly aimed and killed with a single shot. Looking around it seemed like that was the last of them.

"Are we all clear?" I asked.

"Yup, we are." Axton answered, as I made my way down the ladder again. I was surprised how well this was going for me. Considering the amount of shooting we had done, none of us was seriously injured yet.

"Alright, the map is a little confusing here, but it looks like we're going around this way..." I said and went ahead. There was a little side room with some ammunition in it and an ECHO recorder. I figured it couldn't hurt to see what was on that recording. There might be some important information on there. Or maybe it would just be interesting and help us focus or something.

_"I've always found it odd that this planet's soil lacks the essential building blocks for mature flora. Yet while the land itself resists growth from desert to tundra, I've discovered a way forward! Upon careful observation, the same spores that fill these men's lungs can be found in the greater Pandoran atmosphere! Take a deep breath, Cassius. Measure twice, change the world once!"_ I heard Cassius voice as we walked through the corridor. It was kind of sad to hear that he was just trying to do good and help Pandora and to see how Hector has just used him.

We finally reached another area that looked like it had been used for research of some sort. I couldn't stop thinking about how long we had been in here already, trying to get to Cassius. It felt like it was hours already, but it probably wasn't that long.

_"Getting closer! Ah, the thrill of scientific progress. Stimulating, isn't it? You know, when this is all over, I think I might take your scientist up on her lascivious offers!"_ Cassius echoed us when we made our way through the area.

"Okay, too much information. Where do we go next? Upstairs?" Maya asked. I looked around. Seemed like there was no other way...

"I guess." I replied and shrugged. We made our way up the stairs. Hopefully this antidote wouldn't take long.

When we had made it upstairs we found ourselves surrounded by vines again. This research facility was an absolute labyrinth. I just hoped we'd be able to find a way out of this place again.

"There's another hole in the floor. Looks like the lab is down there." Salvador shouted from the neighbouring room. I went over to him, looking through the hole in the floor. Hopefully we'd find a way out of there again.

"Alright. Let's do this. No time to lose." Anouk said and jumped down. She knocked on the only door that was in the room.

_"One moment, I'll let you in." _Cassius echoed us. That was our cue to make our way down there as well.

_"Cassius, you book-readin' sonofabitch! Your services are no longer needed. Stand down." _Hector replied to that. He seemed to be really really pissed about Cassius helping us. I hoped he was really pissed.

_"I'm in the emergency containment room. Fear not, I absolutely escaped the effects of the gas, and I can assure you I am using _absolutely_ quite disingenuously." _Cassius said as the door to his lab opened.

There were vines already growing inside the lab, but apart from that it looked pretty neat and intact. I couldn't see Cassius around anywhere. We slowly walked inside the lab and looked around. Where the hell was Cassius? What were we supposed to do now? There was some weird cylinder in the middle of the room... it was full of spores. What the hell was going on here?

_"That is where you will deposit your friend's blood sample." _Cassius said. I looked around, not sure what he meant, until I saw Axton looking up with a guilty expression on his face. He was standing in front of some sort of scanner.

"I didn't touch anything!" he replied. I sighed and walked over to him, handing him the vial with Mordecai's blood.

_"Now, scan the sample. The antidote will cause his spores to enter a remissive state. It will also provide you immunity to the gas."_ Cassius told us. Axton put the sample in the scanner and the scanner activated itself with bright blue light.

_"Scanning bio-signature" _the scanner announced. Thank God, the scanner still seemed to be working!

_"Oh, drat. Your friend's blood was compromised by the decontamination chamber. I can fix this... I can fix this." _Cassius suddenly said, after the sample had been scanned for only a few seconds.

"What? What's that mean?" I asked, not sure if I had heard that right. Was... was all that just for nothing?

_"It's no good. We will need another sample. There's no time for anything else. Open the emergency containment room." _Cassius replied. I was in some sort of shock, because I just couldn't move and I could barely think. What was that supposed to mean, we'd need another sample?

"I'll go and open it." Maya said, as she walked over to the cylinder in the middle of the room. There was a wheel that was probably supposed to open it. I still couldn't really figure out what was going on.

_"I'd hoped to use the antidote on myself, but we need infected blood... So instead, I must make one final request..." _Cassius echoed us, while we waited for the containment room to open. There was some sort of mechanical noise and then the cylinder was lifted upwards. All the pollen inside the cylinder spread into the air around.

In the middle of the room there was a big figure that looked like one of the plant guys. What was happening? Why was a plant monster inside the containment room? Was that...? He got up and revealed his face.

_"Kill me!" _he said. Dear God. This was Cassius. Cassius was infected and he's been keeping it a secret from us until the end.

"Nova, stay back by the scanner, we got this!" Anouk shouted back at me, as if I had been able to do anything else. I was still trying to process what was happening and what that meant for everything.

I didn't even realize what was going on until it was all over. All I could hear were gunshots and screaming. I had no idea how long the fight actually took, but it didn't seem like it took long. I only really snapped back into reality after Cassius was dead. And my first instinct was to panic.

"What are we going to do? We don't have a blood sample and Cassius is dead and we still don't have an antidote and-" I started babbling mindlessly until a message on the ECHOnet interrupted me.

_"If you're hearing this, I am gone. But I have left oddly-prescient instructions for synthesizing the antidote. First, collect my blood."_ Cassius' voice said. I blinked with surprise. Collect his blood. A blood sample. Of course.

I made my way to Cassius' body, taking an empty health vial out of my pocket. I had used it earlier, thank God I had put it in my pocket and not just thrown it away. I quickly bent down and took a hold of Cassius arm. I was almost on autopilot when I repeated the same procedure as earlier to fill the vial with Cassius' blood.

_"Yes, yes! Now, to the aptly-named antidote machine! Quickly!" _the recording said. I ran back to the scanner and placed the sample.

_"Scanning bio-signature"_ the scanner said again. I really hoped this would work. This was our only chance to save Mordecai.

_"That antidote will save your friend. It will also provide you immunity to the gas, just to be entirely clear."_ Cassius' voice said while the sample was scanning. Just after Cassius was done talking, there was a quiet beeping sound that came from the scanner.

_"I love that sound." _Cassius replied to that. I took the vial out of the scanner and looked at it. It looked somewhat different now.

"Is... is that it?" I asked.

"I... I think so." Salvador replied. I packed the antidote away safely and carefully. That's when we heard Tannis' voice over the ECHOnet.

_"That man's blood is as titillating as his mind. I will begin synthesizing the antidote immediately. And then Cassius will be inside all of us." _she said. We all exchanged looks that said the same thing. We just all got very uncomfortable.


	48. Chapter 47 or The Road To Sanctuary

_Songs: Lord Huron - The Yawning Grave; Crooked Still - Ain't No Grave_

Of course we couldn't see any immediate effects of the antidote. It would take some time, if it was going to work at all. But it seemed like just believing in the antidote made Mordecai feel better already. I really wanted to get some sleep, but I didn't want to be away from Mordecai for now, so I just sat down in a corner and napped for a little while. It wasn't like I could really get much sleep anyway.

"Where's Lilith?" Salvador asked. He had started camping out here as well, since he seemed pretty bored with himself. He liked to have some company once in a while, or so it seemed. I shrugged.

"I have no idea. Plotting and Planning with Tannis, I assume." I replied. It was a little like Lilith and Patricia Tannis had become best friends while Mordecai and I were gone. The two of them were hanging out a whole lot all of a sudden.

"You wanna listen to some ECHO recordings I found?" Salvador asked with a big grin on his face.

"ECHO recordings? Where did you find them?"

"In the research center. They were just lying around. Haven't listened to them yet, wanted to save them for when I'm bored." he replied.

"Sure, let's hear 'em. Nothing else to do anyway." Mordecai chimed in. Ah, so he was awake. I was never sure if he was actually asleep or if he only pretended to be asleep, so he didn't have to talk to anyone.

_"We're almost to Pandora. I'll miss the thrill of the fight... the tidal pool massacre on Junpai-7, pushing back them a-holes from Scala Mirte on Eden-6... but it's for the good of my men. Happy bastards can't stop clamoring about paradise. Green hills. Potable water. Not being clawed to death... Shoot, I'm starting to believe it myself. Pandora, here we come!" _we heard Hector say on the recording. It was weird to hear that, because that... that wasn't Pandora. Not at all.

"Woah, sounds like our friend was in for a surprise when he made it here." Salvador commented.

"What kinda shit did Dahl tell them?" I wondered loudly. Mordecai shrugged.

"Why'd they tell them the truth? They wanted people to go there, they had to tell 'em something." he said.

"There's more, guys." Salvador chimed in.

"Well, play it then." I replied.

_"If this is Paradise, then I'm a one-armed jabbermon scratching my ass at the moon. The moment we stepped foot on this shitheap planet Dahl formally transferred the 191 to a mining crew beneath Mount Scarab. Not paradise, but we'll make due. Boys were about ready to start a war with their own, but I told em that mining's better than dying. Wish I believed that." _Hector's voice told us. Damn. This was horrible. I really, really, really hated Hector, but right now? Right now it was kind of difficult to hate him. Or rather, it was difficult to hate the Hector in the recordings.

"You got any more?" I asked Salvador, hoping there would be something that would mean I could hate him again.

"Yeah, I got one more." he said and started playing it.

_"Tide's turning! Finally, some luck. One of my boys found a shiny alien trinket. Showed it to the Brass. They promised us all promotions and big plots of land! I went back and told the men. They couldn't contain themselves! Why, we cracked open some rations and had ourselves a good old time! We was like a bunch of jabbermon drunk on stalk wine hollerin' in the new day!"_

Ah, shit. That didn't really help my case either. Thankfully, I didn't have much time to think about it, because Lilith was approaching the camp fast and she had the rest of the Vault Hunters in tow.

"Hey Lil, what's up?" I asked her, as I got up from my corner on the floor. I glanced over at Mordecai. He was really looking much better already. The antidote was really working. I didn't really think it wouldn't work, but I had some doubt left. It was quite a relief to see how much better Mordecai looked.

"Hey, Nova. We're taking back Sanctuary. You in?" she wanted to know with a smug smile on her face.

"Taking back Sanctuary? Sounds like you have a plan. Of course I'm in." I answered. She nodded at me with a smile.

"I knew you would." she said to me. Then she looked back at the whole group and showed them a small ECHOmap projection from an old ECHO recorder. It showed the research facility and Sanctuary being connected to it by the vines.

"You did it, killers. Mordecai's gonna live. Now, let's take back our home. Sanctuary's still tethered to the facility. So, the plan is... well, see you up top." Lilith said to all of us. It was a little anticlimactic, but I was glad we had a simple plan for once in our lives. That was a first with the Raiders.

_"Wouldn't celebrate just yet, Raiders. The gas is ready. Paradise is coming. There's nothing you can do to stop it." _Hector echoed us. Ah, there it was. There was the reminder I needed. This is why I really didn't like Hector.

"Okay, let's go. No time to lose." Axton said.

"Can we fast travel to the lab? I just really want to get this over with." I replied. I got a few weirded out looks from Brick, Lilith and Mordecai.

"Sanctuary really got you used to fast travelling, huh?" Mordecai asked. I shrugged. I mean, I still didn't like it, but it was practical.

"I suppose I've made my peace with it." I said.

"There is a fast travel station inside the Mt. Scarab Research Center, so we can go there." Maya said. I nodded.

"Cool, let's do it."

We got all our stuff ready and made our way towards the Fast Travel Station in the Backburner. I had chugged one of Mordecai's soda cans, so I was somewhat less tired now. I still felt exhausted, but I figured I could just go back to my old friends - health vials. They'd keep me going until the worst was over.

"What exactly is our plan for when we get up to Sanctuary?" Anouk asked me quietly while Axton was putting the Fast Travel code into the station. It was a good question, but by now I had gotten used to just winging things.

"No clue. There is no plan. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." I answered, just before we dematerialised. Materialising inside the research center felt pretty bad. Maybe it was the spores, maybe it was me being tired or maybe it was the stuffy air, but I felt way more dizzy and nauseous than usual. I leaned against the wall for a few seconds until I felt somewhat normal again.

_"Okay, guys, I found some more ECHO messages from Cassius, you wanna hear them in your way to the lab?"_ Lilith echoed us, as we started to make our way towards the lab. It was eerily quiet, now that we had killed everyone.

"Sure, play them." Gaige answered.

_"Alright." _Lilith said. It was quiet for a little while, before we heard Cassius' voice once again over the ECHO.

_"I assure you I never intended to hurt anyone. Hector told me he dreamt of a better Pandora. A paradise, he said. I shared that dream! But not like this. The cost is too great!_ _You must stop Hector. I never thought I'd say this, but... Pandora is fine the way it is."_

There was a somewhat longish pause after that and I was almost about to ask Lilith if that was the whole message when we heard him continue talking.

_"Oh - and if you're still here, Vault Hunter, you tell Hector that Cassius said... eat my farts! Oh, no, no, tell him... books are rad! Wait, oh, I've got it, I've got it! I award him a medal for... biggest douche-rocket on Pandora. Point, Cassius!"_

"Poor Cassius. He really just wanted to do good. Who could have known it would go so wrong?" Maya said.

_"That was all, guys. Are you at the lab yet?" _Lilith wanted to know. I checked my ECHOmap. We weren't too far.

"We're almost there, Lil. Any ideas how to continue from there?" I asked her.

_"There should be a door somewhere in the lab. If you can find that, that should lead you into the engine room of Sanctuary. Hopefully." _Lilith answered.

"Well, sorry, we're here right now, but there is no door, I'm afraid..." I replied to her. I looked around the lab, until I noticed some vines that looked strange.

_"Are you sure?" _Lilith wanted to know.

"Hold on a sec, there are some vines..." I answered and got my gun to shoot at them. Maybe there was something behind them... Bingo!

"We've got a door everyone!" I shouted. The rest of the group walked up to the door which rolled up automatically as we approached it.

"Looks like that's where we're going." Axton said and walked ahead through the door. The rest of us followed him, unsure what to expect.

The room was full of vines and there were lots of spores in the air. The light was dim and I had no real idea what the room once looked like, since there were vines growing everywhere. It was difficult to even see where we were going. With that many of us we had to walk through the narrow corridors single file. It felt strange to be back in the underbelly of Sanctuary, now that it had become so different. I shuddered imagining how long it would take us to get rid of all those vines, once we had taken Sanctuary back. I really hoped Lilith wouldn't make us do that.

_"Did you find something?"_ Lilith asked.

"Yeah, we found the door, it was overgrown with vines. We're making our way towards Sanctuary now." I replied. Hopefully we'd get there in one piece.


	49. Chapter 48 or Retaking Sanctuary

_Songs: Status Quo - In The Army Now; The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary_

"I think we made it through to the engine room of Sanctuary now. It's difficult to tell with all those damn vines all over the place. There's a bunch of infected bandits in here, too." I updated Lilith while I was behind cover to reload my sniper rifle.

_"Find Hector. I'm on my way." _Lilith told us. That was easier said than done, because we literally had no clue where Hector was. We barely had an idea where we were, so there was our first problem.

_"Enjoy your last breaths, Raiders. I can feel the roots of paradise takin' hold." _Hector echoed us. God, I really wanted to finally kill him. He was annoying me so much, I wasn't even sure why he got to me so much. Maybe it was because he was threatening Pandora. After all, it had been my home for over 15 years. Maybe it was because he almost got Mordecai killed. Maybe it was because he somehow reminded me of Jack with his constant teasing. Probably a combination of all those things.

_"Tracking ya, VH. Looks like you're in the bowels of Sanctuary. Get ready for a right-powerful stink!"_ Ellie echoed us right after that. It was good to hear her voice again and it was good to know we were in the right place.

"Hi Ellie, good to know, we weren't quite sure. Thanks for the input." Axton echoed her back while he was busy dealing with an infected psycho.

_"Better hurry. Sanctuary's spewing spores like a toddler on a bender. Ain't condoning it, but I've seen it." _Ellie replied.

"Can you get any data on the engines? They don't really sound good. Like, they sound worse than usual." I told her. The engine sound had me quite worried at the moment. It would be a shame if Sanctuary came down while we were trying to save it. Even worse was that it would probably kill us.

_"Working on it. Something is definitely up with them. I'm glad Scooter's not around to see Sanctuary like this. If that overblown gas-man Hector vined up her engines, so help me I am gonna smother him to death under a single tit."_ Ellie answered. I chuckled at the mental imagery.

"I'd pay to see that..." I mumbled.

_"Those vines are mucking up my gears. Give 'em the old chopped salad, V-H!" _Ellie said. She sounded pretty pissed.

"Shit, I see them. They're all electrified." Anouk replied. I looked up and saw what she meant. Those vines were huge!

"Maya, Gaige, you take the right vine! Anouk and I will take the left one!" I shouted over the sound of bandits dying.

"Hey, what about us?" Axton protested.

"I don't know, don't you have bandits to kill or something?" I replied. We had almost managed to get rid of all the vines.

"We're done over here!" Gaige shouted at me, as we managed to get rid of the last vine that was blocking the gears.

"Same over here!" I replied.

_"You gotta stop Hector. A bunch of trees and breathable air and flowers on Pandora? It's not right, I tell ya! That ain't what Scooter woulda wanted!"_ Ellie said through the ECHO as we continued to make our way upwards.

_"Slightly bad news, everyone." _Tannis echoed next. Oh no. I didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Shit, what is it, Tannis?" I asked.

_"I don't have time to mass produce the antidote. If you do not stop Hector from releasing the gas, he will cause a planetary mass extinction. I figured we had, at minimum, six or seven years before something like that."_ she answered. Well, shit. If that was slightly bad news for Tannis, I didn't wanna know what bad news meant. I figured planetary mass extinction was kinda high up on the bad scale.

We walked up some stairs and ended up in a somewhat familiar setting. There was a big glowing Dahl sign and in the room next to it there were loads of ammunition chests, shelves full with boxes and a crazy amount of safes. There was only one person in Sanctuary that would have that many safes.

"Guys, is this Marcus' place?" I asked.

"Yup." Axton said with a big fat grin on his face. Gaige giggled quietly.

"Remember... oh my God... remember when we ended up in the back of his shop one time and we stole all his shit?" she said with a smug grin on her face. Axton nodded quickly and grinned, before moving on.

As we walked through his storage we could see that there were vines on the walls as well. Not as many as down in the engine room, but still. Marcus wouldn't be happy about that, especially since Hector's men probably stole all his stuff, since they had been here. I almost felt bad for him.

"Hey Marcus, your shop is infested, by the way." I echoed him quickly, just to let him know. Maybe he could make his peace with that fact, before returning to Sanctuary. Which meant he wouldn't be grumpy for a few days.

_"Vine-freaks in my armory? That's it! I'm not selling his soldiers any more weapons!" _he answered immediately.

"What the fuck, Marcus? You sold them weapons?" Gaige replied, sounding as if she was genuinely shocked. Maybe she was, but I mean... knowing Marcus I almost expected something like this.

_"I'm a businessman, young lady! How do you think I get the money to buy the weapons I'm selling you guys?"_ Marcus answered.

"You loot them from dead people." Gaige deadpanned.

_"Yes, and some of the higher quality ones I... uh... acquire in other ways. I gotta make money somehow!" _he protested. We made our way out of Marcus' shop and stepped into the streets. It didn't look too bad, there were lots of vines, but other than that, things seemed to be alright. Mostly.

There were vine freaks everywhere in the streets and we had to shoot our way through. Moxxi's bar was just ahead and since our way was blocked by vines we had to go through the bar. It was weird walking through there while literally no one else was around. It just didn't feel right.

_"I can dig the vine décor, but the last thing my bar needs is a bunch of mindless freaks who can't keep their tentacles to themselves. Unless they're willing to pay for it." _Moxxie echoed us, as we made our way through her bar.

"Ew." was the only thing Gaige commented. There were even more soldiers outside as we approached the town square. I don't know why, but it just felt so wrong to have these people in Sanctuary and to have the town square all overgrown with vines and empty, except for Hector's soldiers.

"Lil, this is terrible. Seeing them in the town square is terrible. Shit, I hope this goes well." I echoed her.

_"Shit, I feel you. The Raiders are the only thing that ever brought this war-torn planet a shred of peace. Pandora's not perfect, but it deserves better." _she replied.

"Well said."

_"Hey, this antidote stuff is really working! I think I can walk again! My stalks feel great! Just kidding." _Mordecai chimed in.

"Oh my God, really? You're feeling better?" I asked. It was difficult to believe since he didn't seem to get better that quickly when I left.

_"Yeah, really. I feel like new, seriously." _he answered. I sighed with relief and almost got hit by a bullet. My shield was alarmingly low. I quickly got into some cover to wait until my shield had been recharged.

_"Hahaha! Alright. And after the Vault Hunters take Sanctuary, we're leaving Pandora! For real this time." _Brick said. Fuck. Leaving Pandora? I knew we had done this whole thing once before, but I wasn't sure if I could do that just yet. But there were more important things to do right now. Like finding and killing Hector and finally getting Sanctuary back. Who knew? Maybe it wouldn't feel right to stay after everything that had happened. Maybe it would be easier this time.

_"Yeah, we better! Y'all promised me on my next birthday we'd be on some weird-ass planet, with like, seven moons, crazy li'l critters, and cupcake mountains! Maybe I made up that last one. Tina hungry." _Tina commented, just as my shields had finished recharging. I got up out of cover and saw that Zero seemed to be struggling with one of the infected guys. We were pretty much surrounded at this point.

_"You alright up there?" _Mordecai asked while I aimed at the guy attacking Zero, trying to ignore the bullets hitting my shield.

"We're managing. Somehow." I answered and pulled the trigger. Headshot. Good. Zero's helmet showed a smiley. I didn't hear any answer from Mordecai after that, just some background noise.

_"The Vault Hunters need my help! That's it, I'm going up there!"_ I heard Mordecai's muffled voice.

_"Uh uh uh! You are confined to bed rest, young man! Now drink your soup!" _Tina protested loudly.

_"Uh, Tina? This is just a photo of a rock with the word soup on it. You know that, right?"_

_"Don't you let that get cold, mister."_

"Mordy, we're alright up here. Get your rest, we'll be fine." I said to him.

_"Are you sure?"_

"Yeah, I think there aren't many left at the moment. We're gonna be done here soon, okay?" I replied and walked up to the others who seemed to be done with all of them. There was no one else around, but us.

"Alright, so... where do you think Hector is?" I wanted to know as I walked up to them. Maya pointed at some stairs.

"ECHO signature says he's over there." she replied.

"What are we waiting for, then?" I said and started walking up the stairs. I was so done with all of this. I wanted to go back to Mordecai. I wanted to see for myself that he was doing better. I wanted to get a good night's sleep without any nightmares. That was all I wanted for now.

When we got to the top of the stairs, we realized that we'd have to climb down some vines to get to Hector. Thank God, it was easy to avoid the thorns on those vines. It seemed like Hector had surrounded himself by a wall of vines and plants and it was really difficult to get to him.

When we had made it down into his little plant fort, he was standing in the middle of some sprouting vines and turned around to us. He seemed a little surprised to see us after all, but quickly got back to his normal self - whatever that meant for him. He grinned at us and smashed some glass vial on his shoulder pad. It released some of the weird plant gas he'd been using on everyone.

When he breathed it in he was coughing heavily for a while. It was as if he hadn't really expected this whole thing to be painful. He didn't stop coughing and finally fell to the ground and lay there for a second. None of us were really sure whether that was it or not, but we weren't guessing for long.

A massive plant thing sprouted out of the ground with Hector in the middle of it. He practically was the plant. It had huge vines that he seemed to control and it looked near impossible to get through to him. Shit. This wasn't gonna be fun. We started firing all we had at him through the leaves and vines around him, until he completely closed up and was completely protected by his vines.

"Shit. Lilith, are you seeing this?" I asked her over the ECHO. That was when I saw a bright purple flash right next to me. Lilith had made it up to Sanctuary.

"I'm right here and yeah, this isn't good." she answered and looked at the massive vines that were separating us from the rest of the group.

"Guys, the flowers! Shoot the flowers!" Axton shouted from one of the other sections. I ran over to the vines and fired some bullets at the infected flowers. As soon as all of them were gone, the vine disappeared again. Lilith shrugged and got up in the air to start raining fire on the other tentacles. Soon enough the vines that had been protecting Hector opened up again and we could get some clear shots at him.

This whole thing repeated itself a few more times, but it seemed like Hector was getting weakened more and more. He was pretty vulnerable without his vines around him. It didn't take too long until we could completely take him down. It was somewhat anticlimactic, because he just... he just collapsed.

"He's gone. You did it! Now grab the Vault Key." Lilith said. She sounded pretty suspicious of how quickly Hector had gone down. I mean, it was kind of weird. Was this it? Did we win already? Something just seemed off...

"So who's climbing up there?" Axton asked.

"I'll do it." Anouk offered and put her gun away. She quickly climbed up through the vines and grabbed the Vault Key. That's when we suddenly saw Hector move again. Lilith seemed as surprised as any of us.

"What the... Vault Hunters, get back!" she shouted. There was some electricity and Anouk screamed in pain and jumped down from the vines. I ran over to her to see if she was okay. She was already sitting up again and holding her shoulder. There was a weird purple glow around Hector and he was laughing.

"You're too late! My roots have grown into the heart of this city - and next, all of Pandora!" he said mockingly. Shit. What the hell did that mean?

"You okay?" I quietly asked Anouk.

"Yeah, just got a little wound on my shoulder, I'm fine." she answered. It kinda looked like more of a wound, but she was right. She'd survive.

"Change of plans, Vault Hunter! We have to get out of here. I'll contain the infection. Get me some Eridium! There's a big cache nearby." Lilith then said. Fuck. If she needed Eridium that meant some crazy stuff was about to go down.


	50. Chapter 49 or Paradise Lost

_Songs: Breaking Benjamin - Ashes of Eden; The Church - Under The Milky Way_

"You heard her, everyone, let's get that Eridium!" I shouted over all the noise. There was a door leading out back towards Sanctuary that was free now. We all quickly made our way out of this place, because we didn't have much of an idea of how long Lilith could contain him.

_"When I'm done, Pandora will never be the same!" _we heard Hector shouting over the ECHOnet.

"Lil, you sure about raiding Crazy Earl's Eridium stash?" I asked her as we approached the hostel. The door was left open, Earl probably hadn't had any time to lock up before he got teleported out of the city.

_"Yeah, that's exactly the place I meant. I'll need a ton of Eridium."_ she answered. I shrugged and opened the door. There was a massive amount of the purple glowing rock behind this door and it was stashed all in one spot.

_"My spores will rain down over this land. Deserts will become forests, and finally... this world WILL be the paradise I was promised! This is my planet now. I'll take this ship higher and my paradise gas will spread all over the land. You're not welcome in my new world!" _Hector kept babbling while we picked up all the Eridium for Lilith.

"Lil, how much exactly do you need?" I asked.

_"I need all the Eridium you can carry. Hurry!" _she shouted.

_"My, oh my, what a view. Let's go a little higher." _Hector started teasing us again. Shit. We'd all die up here.

"We've got as much as we can carry, Lil." I said to her.

_"Bring the Eridium to me!" _she shouted, sounding desperate at this stage. She probably couldn't contain the infection much longer. We quickly made our way back to where she was. She was still upholding the purple sphere around Hector.

_"You've lost! This ship is mine. The Key is mine. Pandora is mine!" _Hector shouted triumphantly.

"Here you go, Lilith." I said, as we started piling up Eridium next to her. She nodded solemnly.

"Sorry about this, killers. It's the only way. Trust me." Lilith said. Oh no. What was she planning?

"Lil, what are you gonna do? Don't do anything stupid, Lil!" I replied, but stepped back. If she had something stuck in her head it wouldn't be easy to get it out of her head. Especially in a situation like this.

Lilith didn't even get a chance to answer me, before we were all blinded by a bright purple light. What the hell was this all about? Why was she teleporting us off Sanctuary? What the actual hell? When we could see something again, we were on the ground, on Pandora, looking up at Sanctuary in the sky. There was a purple glow over the city, like some sort of dome.

"Nova? What are you...? Where is Lilith?" I heard Mordecai asking. I turned around and there he was, completely healed and back to normal again.

"I don't know, I have no idea what's happening, I..." I replied, when we were interrupted by Hector's voice on the ECHO.

_"You finally stood your ground, Firehawk. But it's too late."_

_"I'm not leaving here without that map!"_ Lilith replied to that. She sounded extremely exhausted.

_"You Vault Hunters are so blind. I have seen the true purpose of the Map. It leads to power you can't possibly imagine." _Hector said. All the while, the only thing we could do was stare at Sanctuary.

_"What the hell?" _Lilith gasped.

_"Sanctuary is part of me now. The Vault Map is part of me. You can't destroy me without losing them both. Your dream DIES with me!" _Hector said, his voice getting back into that mocking tone.

_"What - what do you think you're doin'?!"_ Hector suddenly shouted. What the hell was going on up there?"

_"Making the call." _Lilith answered. The light around Sanctuary intensified, it got brighter and brighter.

_"No!" _was the last thing we heard from Hector, before the dome containing Hector started growing until all of Sanctuary was surrounded by a big ball of purple light. And then, all of a sudden, that big ball of light imploded into itself and a loud bang followed. And then there was nothing left of Sanctuary. There were some rocks raining down from the sky, but Sanctuary was gone. Just like that.

We all just kept staring up to where Sanctuary was, not entirely sure what had just happened and why it had happened and... where the hell was Lilith? I couldn't believe that Sanctuary wasn't there anymore. I mean, I had seen explode it and all just now, but... surely, Lilith would have just phased the city somewhere else, wouldn't she? And if she actually... destroyed Sanctuary, then she would have phased out of there, right? There was no way she was just... dead... right?

Mordecai was the first one who regained his ability to say anything and he said what we all were thinking at that moment.

"Lilith!"

There was another bright purple light just right in front of us. I took a step back, not sure what to expect from that. But when the light wasn't as bright anymore we could see Lilith. She was kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily.

"It's her!" I exclaimed, still shocked from... everything.

"She's alive!" Ellie shouted and we ran over to her.

"Lil, are you okay?!" Mordecai asked her.

"Yeah." was all she said, before she moaned in pain again. She looked up into the sky, to the spot where Sanctuary once was.

"It's gone." she whispered, as if she couldn't really believe it herself. Oh God, I was so glad that Lilith was alive. I genuinely thought she was gone for good this time.

"Lilith! That... was... AWESOME! Yeah!" Brick shouted and started doing a little dance, casually bumping into Mordecai and me. I gestured at him to stop, because... jeez, this was really not the time.

"I destroyed Sanctuary." Lilith mumbled, still sounding confused.

"Is the freaky tree man dead?" Ellie asked, a hand on her shoulder. Brick walked up to the two of them.

"Hey, Roland would've done the same thing." he said to her.

"Worth it!" even Claptrap chimed in.

"It's okay, Lil. It's gonna be fine." I told her, even though I wasn't sure I believed it. I mean, at least we wouldn't all become brainless plant-people hybrids, so that was a bonus point in this situation.

"Holy crap, I'm so jealous! I've wanted to blow up that ship forever! I'm cool, I'm cool." Tina squealed while Ellie helped Lilith back up on her feet.

"I calculated that there was a 86.4% percent chance Sanctuary would have exploded as soon as it reached escape velocity." Tannis said with a pensive expression on her face. We all turned to her, everyone sporting more or less of a _what the fuck_ expression.

"Perhaps I should have shared that with you sooner?" she added, giving us all an apologetic smile. I shook my head. This woman. Seriously. This woman needed to get her priorities straight.

"Sanctuary. The map. Everything's gone." Lilith said again while gesturing wildly into the sky. She seemed to be getting more upset and angry now. It would probably take a long while to actually realize what this all meant for us now.

"Hey, you made the call. We're all still here. Nothing else matters." Mordecai reassured her. And he was right. This could have ended with the whole planet going extinct within a second. But it didn't. Everything we lost was material. We could rebuild that.

"I guess you're right." Lilith replied with a sigh and looked back up at Sanctuary.

"So, uh... what now?" Mordecai asked with a shrug.

"Up there, Hector showed me the Map. I saw the Vaults, connected somehow, part of something bigger." Lilith replied and started her nervous pacing again.

"I don't know what it means. Look, we may have lost the map, but we never needed it before. We have to find the Vaults before they fall into the wrong hands. We have got to keep searching. And that means leaving Pandora." Lilith said next and looked at me briefly. She just knew me too well. But she was right. We needed to go and get to those Vaults, before someone else did. Other people would hear about the map or already knew about it. We needed to do something.

"But I can't go with you. Not yet. Someone has to rebuild the Raiders. We need new blood, new badasses, if we're going to be ready for the next fight. Find the Vaults. No matter how far it takes you, no matter what happens, you will always be Crimson Raiders!" Lilith continued and raised her fist as she ended her speech. And even though my heart was sinking a little, thinking about leaving Pandora behind (and especially leaving Lilith behind), I knew she was right, and so I raised up my fist as well, just like the others. We might have lost Sanctuary, but we had really won Pandora. This was definitely a time to celebrate. For now, at least.

"Come on, let's head back to camp. Time to take care of all your injuries." Tannis said to all of us. I nodded and we went ahead, back towards the Backburner. Lilith stayed back where she was and I figured she needed some time to herself.

"Well, ol' Sanctuary went out in a way that would've made Scooter happy... killin' a big ass tree." I heard Ellie say loudly. I was glad she was there with Lilith, in case Lil needed any help. Ellie was reasonable, even if we ended up leaving without Lilith, Ellie would take good care of her.

"Are you okay?" Mordecai asked me. I nodded and quickly pulled a thorn out of my leg. It was a pretty bad injury, but nothing that would do lasting damage. It wasn't even bleeding that much anymore. I needed to clean that wound and wrap it up and then I'd be fine. I was more worried about Anouk's shoulder.

"That's the only thing that got me." I said and held up the thorn. It was still full of blood and I just now realized I'd have to wear the same bloody clothes until we'd get something new. Which could be weeks on Pandora.

"That looks painful. How is everyone else holding up?" Mordecai wanted to know. I looked over to the other guys.

"I think they're alright. Most of them are probably still in shock, because of Sanctuary being... gone." I said.

"Yeah, true. Is Anouk alright?"

"She got hit in the shoulder. She says she's okay, but it looks like a pretty bad injury. She'll survive it, but I don't know how long it'll all take to heal."

"Ah, shit. Well, Zed and Tannis can have a look at it. What about the rest?"

"They all seem fine. Zero got a few bad hits and Gaige seems to have some trouble with her arm, but apart from that everyone seems to be doing alright. I'm just worried about Lilith." I replied.

"Yeah. We'll have to talk the whole thing over again. We can't really make any hasty decisions right now." Mordecai said and stopped walking to hug me.

"It'll all be okay, right?" I asked. I think it had just really hit me that Sanctuary was gone for good now.

"It'll all be fine. Don't worry. It'll be okay."


End file.
